Truth in books
by Shadow Priesstes
Summary: After an explosion in the Department of Mysteries a series of strange books are found together with two others bearing Harry Potter's name on them. After the decisson falls to read them all in Hogwarts was no one ready for the secrets which were about to be revealed in front of the school and ministry officials.
1. Prologue

A/N: well as per usual my mind is working overtime and with me working is it not easy to get story updates, but these type of fics are easy to do even with my own twist to them. Beside that look at the bright side I'm planning to get some fic updates done as a Christmas present for all my readers who are patiently bearing with me. As a note this fic will be AU for the shake of the story and it can be that some people will act OOC.

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Prologue

The door to the Divination's Classroom opened slowly before falling shut behind the eleven people as they strode into the room briskly, they faces etched in various stages of worry, anxiety and anger.

"I can't believe that they did such a thing!" snapped the usually level headed mediwitch.

"You tell me Poppy? When Lucius floo-called me today was I about to summon my army and order them to storm the Ministry and destroy that damned department."

"I'm in it professor!" yelled and excited female voice, playing already with the bracelet around the left wrist.

"No Miss Parkinson we will not be starting a war here though the Divine punishment will surely not wait for to long if they continue on with this madness." said the fourth adult in the room as she flopped down in one of the bean bags, the youngest of they group right beside her on the ground rested her head in the lap of the older female.

"Unfortunately this is something we all know even without being a child of the God of Prophecy." replied the usually stern woman as her eyes looked over the group. "And I thought third year would give me a heart attack when Albus told me to get Miss Granger a ugh... "she shuddered as if it would be disgusting to say the name " Time Turner, thank you Severus for steadying me before anyone noticed that I nearly fainted."

"Your welcome Min, it was my way to thank you for holding me back when that man dared to present us with a Philosopher's stone a blasphemy for both my father and Thanatos." there was a thunder of agreement. "At least had the Flamels accepted they punishment for such a crime, though Voldemort will have it much worse when we finally get him." no one asked what it would be, but they were certain that he will deserve it.

"By the way Severus, I always wondered, how come that YOU were bitten by a Cerberus?" Poppy asked still feeling a twinge of annoyance that the other had not come to her for treatment, stupid pride.

"Because that oaf Hagrid got himself a Cerberus pup and failed to forget that like normal dogs they need to be trained which he did not, I'm the one who is currently teaching him." Severus replied in annoyance that man was a menace, but he should not be surprised that man was a half giant.

"Each year has a new monster, I'm really considering dropping Care, the Thestrals were nice and all, but most of the others and then the dragons." Hannah Abbot from Hufflepuff said shuddering as Lavender patted her on the back.

"I know when that Hippogriff attacked Draco I nearly fainted in terror." she said while looking over at Dean.

"Yeah, at least had he only a small wound and was not ripped apart. I know that most of the others in Gryffindor were the option because he insulted it and I don't know how often I needed to bite my tongue to not yell at them that it was set on attacking him right when he noticed that he was a legacy."

"True, I could heal the wound, but because we had run out of ambrosia could he feel the wound for a few more weeks, as for third year luckily the Dementors were mostly beside one-two accidents away because of you Severus, the Basilisk before that and last year the dragons." Poppy shuddered, she was so worried that they would be attacked.

"Yes that year I needed to increase the amount of my scented sticks to hide my smell." replied a soft voice while the others stared incredulously at her.

"Sybil, in this mix of flowers and fruits I doubt that any Kindly Ones would smell you even if they would be standing right beside you." Severus remarked, even he was not overdoing like that with his potions.

"You can never be to careful, right big sister?" asked Luna smiling as she looked up at the older woman.

"So is it Luna."

"Do you know how they got they hands on those books?" Zacharias asked from beside his cousins.

"It was the result of one of thy experiments in the Department of Mysteries, luckily could Lucius get them to read the books here in Hogwarts beside that were there also two more books which appeared. They were titled Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire so I assume that Dumbledore will try getting our family members and us all to fight in this pathetic war and to clear Black's name." Severus finished in annoyance when there was a growl from the other adults.

"The only good part of this will be that we can go back home and that Lucius will get the chanced to finally tell his option to Sirius for the way he had acted with poor Regulus." Minerva said remembering the blonde's devastation at the message that his little brother was dead, ripped apart by re-animated dead bodies.

"True, it will be nice spending more time with my siblings, I really like Parvati, but it is not the same." Lavender said smiling wistfully.

"Yes, let's make ourselves ready for the return home after the books are done." Severus said as he handed each of them a marble like object. "If we need to depart fast, but I will have the ghosts instructed to keep problems away." Everyone nodded as they made they way out of the room, tomorrow would they all start reading about the past.

_To be continued…_


	2. The strange books

II. The strange books

Hogwarts School of Withccraft and Wizardry was bussing from life, students were excitedly whispering between each other after the Headmaster made and accountment that for the coming days classes will be falling out and that they will be instead reading nine books with the Ministry. This was welcomed by most people because it would keep them safe from being forced to sit in class with either Snape or Umbridge, the later steadily climbing up the distaste ladder of the students, threatening Snape's place as the worst teacher and this was saying something. So here they were all in the Great Hall with they teachers, the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, five people from the Department of Mysteries, Amos Diggory who still looked stricken by the death of his son, Madam Amelia Bones the head of the Magical Law Enforcements, aurors Mad-Eye Moody, Knigsley and Tonks, Mr. Weasley was also there much to the happiness of his children, this at least brought they glare away from Percy who was sitting beside Fudge and Mr. Malfoy.

Though before the reading could start were there other surprises as well, namely the fact that Dumbledore informed everyone that he had allowed more guests to come, these were the rest of the Weasley family, Mrs Malfoy and her sister Andromeda Tonks with her husband, Hestia Jones, Deadelus Diggle, Remus Lupin and to everyone's great shock the escaped convict Sirius Black. Immediately were wands drawn, but Dumbledore reasoned that they can arrest Sirius after they had finished the two books with Harry's name on them, hearing this made said Boy-Who-Lived groan, which were the last books. Still to be safe made Madam Bones and unbreakable wov with Sirius that he will not do harm to anyone while they are reading the books, this calmed most people down except Fudge and Umbridge of course, strangely even Malfoy didn't comment. Then arrived the last guests who were no one other then the shell shocked Dursley family much to Harry's shock and making him glad that Sirius won't go murdering his relatives right in front of the Ministry.

"Now that everyone is here we should start with reading these books, they appeared in the Department of Mysteries after and explosion together with the two books concerning Mister Potter so by the suggestion of Mr. Malfoy was it decided that the books shall be read here in Hogwarts." at this looked many people confused at the older Malfoy sitting beside the Potions Master. "The first book is titled _**The Lightning Thief**_." at this raised many muggleborns they eyebrows. How can one steal lightning? "Minister, would you have the honour to start?"

"Of course Dumbledore." Fudge said nodding in approval as he accepted the book, but looked sceptical when he looked at the title.

_**I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher**_

At this broke many students out laughing, mostly those who were muggleborn and hated math classes.

"I already like the start of this." commented Sirius to Remus who was hiding a chuckle.

_**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**_

This made everyone stop laughing and to exchange confused glances. Was this book about wizards, while Umbridge wrinkled her nose, disgusting half-breeds.

_**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**_

"But being normal…"

"…is so overrated." come it from the Weasley twins as they flashed a grin towards the still covering muggle family, though no one knew that Petunia was secretly busy taking everything in from the school her sister had loved so much.

"I personally would like to be a normal wizard." Harry mumbled to himself, he hated his fame, not knowing that there were twelve other people in the room who were currently smiling bitterly at the sentence.

_**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**_

"Of course with all the Slytherins ready to strike them." Ron said not noticing the glare he got from Lavender and Dean, but both Parvati and Hermione did.

_**It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. **_

At this looked most people to the fidgeting Slytherin table while those who knew what was actually meant shuddered and glared at Hagrid and the Headmaster.

_**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**_

"This person certainly has depressive thoughts." remarked Terry Boot by the Ravenclaw table.

_**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**_

"I wonder what the person means, who are _they?_ " Charlie asked Bill who was sitting on his right side, but the other only shrugged.

"Don't know, but something tells me that the person is not talking about Death Eaters, don't know why thought."

"I agree with you, _they _are not Death Eaters." said suddenly Andromeda Tonks in a grave voice as she did everything to not look in her brother-in-law's direction.

"Then what are they Andy and how do you know?" Sirius asked curiously and even Narcissa was secretly looking, she had always been such a curious little thing.

"You will soon know what they are and as for your question Sirius it was your father." she half lied because it had been Lucius who told her in hope that she could help keep Regulus safe after an incident when she babysitted and suddenly a large monster appeared and went for Reg who was only six months back then. Luckily had both her uncle Orion and Lucius appeared in time to help them then her magic did nothing to the beast. Her uncle knew what his son was and Lucius saw it best to explain to her the truth.

"Aha…" was her cousin's only reply, he will eventually understand that his father did not favour Regulus over him, but instead was deadly worried that each day was the last he would see his youngest child.

_**Don't say I didn't warn you.**_

_**My name is Percy Jackson.**_

"And we have a name ladies and gentlemen."

"Unfortunately needs that kid to share it with that traitorous git."

"Fred! George!" Molly snapped at her sons.

_**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**_

Harry bit back a snort of irony as he looked up at the Dursleys, uncle Vernon was looking back at him with a purple face, but seemed to have enough brains to not comment in a room full of his nephew's lot.

_**Am I a troubled kid?**_

_**Yeah. You could say that.**_

_**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mentalcase kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**_

_**I know—it sounds like torture.**_

The book received many offended looks from the Ravenclaw table and from some other kids who liked going into museums like Hermione while a few others only smiled fondly at Percy's comment.

_**Most Yancy field trips were.**_

_**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair.**_

Some who knew what that was looked a bit sad and wondered what sort of accident the teacher had while Arthur was talking to the Muggle Studies teacher that he will write a list about the things he would like to know.

_**He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**_

"He sounds like a pretty good teacher, like Lupin was." Harry said.

"He certainly is."

"Did you say something Lavender?" Harry asked the blonde who only now noticed that she had spoken out loud.

"I was saying that professor Lupin is certainly a great teacher." she said hurriedly.

"Nice save Lav." whispered Dean to her.

_**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**_

_**Boy, was I wrong.**_

"Why does that sound familiar." mumbled Harry while Hermione patted him on the back and Ron shook his head muttering something about being Harry's friend guarantees that you will have gray hair by the end of seventh year if you live till then.

_**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**_

The twins grinned evilly at this, the kid sounded fun.

_**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**_

"I hope no one was hurt." said Hestia worriedly.

_**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**_

"No, please tell us more!" yelled the twins and Sirius before they got wacked over the head to keep quiet.

_**This trip, I was determined to be good.**_

"He just jinxed it." stated Zacharias with a fond smile on his lips, poor Perce that was so typical him.

_**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-andketchup sandwich.**_

Some wrinkled they noses is disgust at the food while most of the adults looked disapproving about such actions by a child and no adult stepping in.

_**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny.**_

Harry glared at everyone who looked about to comment, Severus did the same, but he was targeting Black and Lupin with his look while Dudley squirmed uncomfortably in his chair, since the attack this summer had he started to re-view his actions and was kind of disgusted with himself.

_**He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs. **_

"Poor thing." Molly said.

_**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**_

_**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**_

_**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**_

_**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**_

_**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**_

_**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**_

_**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything**_

_**happens."**_

"He is a really good friend." Hermione said smiling.

_**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**_

At this exchanged everyone worried looks while some only shook they heads.

_**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**_

_**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**_

_**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**_

Ron already wanted to comment on what people found so interesting in old potery, but a look from Hermione stopped him while the other purebloods keept silent because they were teached that the older a heirloom the greater is they worth.

_**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**_

_**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**_

"Sounds like a combination from Snape and Umbridge." commented Seamus, not even noticing the look his best friend was giving him, or that he started a small prayer that this comment shouldn't be taken seriously.

Meanwhile up by the staff table was Minerva leaning over to Severus.

"Which of them did he send?" she asked with morbid curiosity seeing how she knew that it would be fine, but still she would like to know.

"Alecto, she is the only one using that word when talking to someone." Severus whispered back to her shuddering, at least did it not sound that bad like when that pink frog not far from them was talking or Bellatrix using that baby voice of hers."

_**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight,**_

"Correction, she is related to both Umbridge and Lockhart." Harry said and some who heard him started snickering.

_**I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**_

_**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**_

"What is interesting about that?" Blaize asked sceptically and many seemed to agree with him.

"I personally find them interesting Mr. Zabini." said Severus to his now embarrassed student while Lucius, Minerva, Poppy and Sybill were trying to hide they snickers.

_**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele,**_

"So mature." someone commented.

_**and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**_

_**It came out louder than I meant it to.**_

_**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**_

_**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**_

_**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**_

_**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**_

_**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**_

There were various noises of disgust mostly from those who didn't know the myth.

_**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**_

_**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**_

Everyone looked confused when by the staff table Snape, McGonagall, Madam Pomfrey, Trelawney and Mr. Malfoy were coughing as was Nott by the Slytherin table. Pansy only muttered _"A brave guy."_ while Hannah Abbott and Zacharias Smith looked slightly wide eyed, Luna was shaking her head, Dean was holding back a snigger and Lavender wacked him over the head for it.

_**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**_

_**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**_

"Who in Merlin's name mistakes a rock for a baby?" Sirius asked confused.

"If they nearly inhale food like you do Sirius then pretty easily." answered Andromeda, Remus, Tonks and surprisingly Narcissa at the same time to the now blushing man.

"So Sirius and Ron are alike." stated Hermione.

_**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**_

_**There were again sounds of disgust while Severus and Lucius explained that they other parent still didn't react to well to stomach sicknesses because of the memory. **_

_**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**_

"Our sentiments exactly." come it from Cho who looked slightly green in the face.

_**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**_

_**Some snickers from the group.**_

_**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**_

_**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**_

_**"Busted," Grover muttered.**_

_**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**_

The Weasleys glared at the Slytherin table who were looking at them with smirks on they faces.

_**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**_

"Just like McGonagall." the students said as a whole making the witch smile.

_**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**_

_**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**_

"How can someone eat after that visual image?" Tonks asked at which Dumbledore stood up.

"Ah good thought Miss Tonks, we will be having lunch after the fifth chapter." he said before gesturing to the minister to continue.

_**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**_

_**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**_

_**I knew that was coming.**_

_**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**_

_**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**_

"Like professor Dumbledore." Harry said to his friends who nodded.

_**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**_

_**"About the Titans?"**_

_**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**_

_**"Oh."**_

_**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**_

There was a new wave of confusion from those who didn't know the turth while those who knew nodded aprovingly.

_**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**_

_**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**_

Many students, even some Slytherins looked up in interst at this idea, they would never admitt it, but they had kind of liked the DADA exam which Lupin had held back then while by the table much to everyones amusement had both Umbridge and Vernon Dursley the same expression on they faces.

_**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder**_

"Er… what?" Ron asked.

"Dyslexia means that he has problems reading the letters start to swim and bounce together and attention deficit disorder or short ADHD means that he has problems sitting still and keeping focused for a long time on one thing." come it suddenly from Andromeda, but also from Petunia who looked surprised about the fact that she had explained something to these people.

"I remember Lily telling us that you had planned to be a nurse." Remus said to the blonde woman who nodded making Harry wonder if his aunt had given up on that plan because of his uncle because she seemed to know pretty much about this subject.

_**and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better.**_

Harry was again thinking about Dumbledore.

_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**_

At the look of his cousins Severus nodded his head in the positive making them sink they heads.

_**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**_

_**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**_

_**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**_

Severus only snorted as he glared up at the sky and then turned his gaze to the Black Lake while the others muttered something under they breaths much to the suspicion of those sitting closer to them. Andromeda on the other hand smiled sadly at them, knowing that they will be gone after they are done with the books, but there was also a selfish excitement in her just like probably in Mrs Dursley that she will now learn about the world of one of her relatives about which she had only heard a few things.

_**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**_

_**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**_

Many glared up at the staff table when both Umbridge and Vernon let out approving sounds, making them sink back in they chairs.

_**"Detention?" Grover asked.**_

_**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**_

_**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**_

There was a new round of laughs at the random question.

_**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**_

The girls and women cooed at this while the boys rolled they eyes.

_**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**_

_**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**_

_**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**_

"Hey Malfoy, we found your and your chorines female counterparts!" Ron called over to the Slytherin table before Harry or Hermione could grab him.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" at the yell of his mother remembered a mortified Ron that both his and Malfoy's parents were sitting at the head table, turning to the side he was the dark glares of the two blondes and the disappointed looks of his parents.

_**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**_

"What is that?" asked one of the purebloods.

"A muggle food made from corn, it comes in different tastes, cheese, ketchup, peanuts and pizza." explained Colin Creevey.

"Muggles are weird."

_**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**_

"That never helps." come it from Pansy as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, it was always Theo grabbing her which helped holding her temper inside, she blamed her dad for that.

_**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**_

"And so it starts." commented Poppy to Trelawney who was sitting beside her making some people look again confused.

_**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**_

_**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**_

_**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**_

_**"—the water—"**_

_**"—like it grabbed her—"**_

"What!" some yelled shocked even the ministry wizards were looking at the book curiously.

"Wicked!" come it from the Weasley twins as they started scribbling on a roll of parchment.

"Now she knows for sure." groaned Minerva, she knew that this was all in the past and that Percy was currently safe with his friends and getting ready to visit Camp Jupiter, how she missed the place she called home. Though after being done with these books can she go back to her old role in the senate and also be a bow instructor.

_**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.**_

"I fear she surely has." Hannah whimpered and Zacharias patted her on the back much to the shock of they house mates.

"She sounds like how Snape would react." Harry said, but looked up when Dean and Lavender made a strange sound. "What is with you two?" he asked.

"Something tells us that you will soon know." Dean said as he looked up at the candles, it was good that Severus had invented a potion that made the candles emit a smell which was for humans invisible, but for the Kindly Ones it stunk to high heavens it also seemed to work for half-breeds because Hagrid often tended to look at his coat strangely and he was rarely inside the castle and Lupin was also lookig around occasionally sniffing. Sure neither were attcking them, but some of the things Hagrid keeps as pets could as they saw it in third year.

_**"Now, honey—"**_

_**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**_

"Wrong thing to say." chorused all the troublemakers.

_**That wasn't the right thing to say.**_

Fudge continued before anyone could comment.

_**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**_

_**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**_

_**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**_

_**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**_

_**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**_

_**"But—"**_

_**"You—will—stay—here."**_

_**Grover looked at me desperately.**_

"Don't you think that Grover is acting strange? I mean yes, he is standing in for a friend, but still something is not right there." Hermione said in her usual matter of fact tone.

"I know what you mean." Harry said.

"Well, I don't get it." was Ron's reply who finally dared to get up from under the table.

_**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**_

_**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**_

_**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**_

_**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**_

_**How'd she get there so fast?**_

"I also think that something is not right." Neville commented nervously and Ginny patted his back symphatically.

_**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**_

_**I wasn't so sure.**_

_**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**_

_**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but was absorbed in his novel.**_

A tense silence fell over the room, friends and table neighbours were exchanging uncomfortable glances with each other.

_**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**_

_**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**_

_**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**_

_**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**_

"I blame a certain person who made her maid/bodyguard to a certain daughters group of his for two years for her frail for dramatic." Severus muttered when suddenly the rumble of thunder made everyone look up confused at the clear blue sky. "You know that I speak the truth." Severus called and the thunder rumbled again.

"Severus, as much as I like you, I don't wish to get toasted anytime soon because I'm sitting so close to you." Lucius stated, ignoring the confused looks they were recieving. "Really, staring is rude and eventually the book will give you a pretty plausible explanation." the blonde stated before looking up at the sky. "You know that all three of them will be annoyed with you and you remember what she did the last time she was really peeved at you." there was the rumble again, but this time is sounded as if someone would be grumbling while Lucius only smirked before taking a drink from his goblet.

"Erm… Draco what was that what your dad and the professor did?" Blaize asked the blonde in confusion.

"I have no clue, thought I caught father a few times talking to the peacocks, but never to the sky." Draco replied, but he was determined to get answers.

"Oookkeyy… I really hope that someone will explain this later on." Harry said to his friends who nodded.

_**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**_

The tension returned.

_**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**_

_**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**_

"She really hates him." stated Minerva to Severus.

"You can be sure about that."

_**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**_

_**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**_

_**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**_

_**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**_

_**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**_

"I can name you right now four teachers who either tried to kill me, whip my memories or to punish me for saying the truth." Harry said earning a glare for some ministry wizards who were doing a pretty good job in swimming against the current of the Nile.

_**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**_

_**Thunder shook the building.**_

"That was the wrong thing to say." Poppy said while keeping the urge in to shake Severus about the fact that his father had sent that thing against that child, but then remembered that this would not lead to anything because this was years ago.

"Did you notice that in the book it also thundered." Hermione said.

"Who says it didn't start to storm, was there not something about dark clouds?" Ron asked.

_**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**_

_**I didn't know what she was talking about.**_

"You and us all mate." replied George.

_**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**_

The tension lifted a little bit as the students broke out laughing.

"That guy is great." Fred laughed.

It took a few minutes for the students to calm down so that Fudge could continue reading.

_**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet**_

"I will explain after the books!" Charity called when noticing all the questioning looks.

_**without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**_

There was again laughter and this time even the Ravenclaws and Hermione also laughed because it made them forget that he was alone in an empty room with a creepy teacher.

_**"Well?" she demanded.**_

_**"Ma'am, I don't..."**_

_**"Your time is up," she hissed.**_

Everyone watched tensely as Fudge palled, turning to the wizards form the Department of Mysteries who were looking at him confused.

"You are sure that these are accurate?" he asked in a tight tone.

"We would swear on our magic minister." replied an old wizard with tinning hair speckled with gray and a short beard, his colleagues nodded with the same determination.

Fudge only glumped and turned back to reading, both his hands and tone shaking.

_**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals.**_

Harry shuddered as he remembered Voldemort's red eyes.

_**Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**_

Many girls screamed and grabbed they friends in a tight hug to find comfort while the boys took hold on the bank they were sitting on.

Everyone was on the edge, what would now happen to the twelve years old boy?

_**Then things got even stranger.**_

_**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**_

"Maybe he wants Percy to draw a mustache on her." tried George to lift the mood, but going out from the looks he was getting had his plan failed.

"Even muggles hire useless half-breeds." Umbridge spat in disgust.

"Dolores, shut up." snapped Madam Bones, she could not stand that woman and would love to catch her doing something for which she could fire her.

_**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**_

More frightened screams and Severus was sure that he would have Minerva's finger marks on his skin for a while. Really, she knew that Percy was fine, this must be her mother instinct, he thought while trying not to flinch, meanwhile was Andromeda looking at her broter-in-law with wide eyes wondering how often he had found himself as a kid in such situations.

_**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**_

Everyone was still to much on the edge to comment.

_**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**_

_**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**_

_**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**_

_**And she flew straight at me.**_

_**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**_

"Wait! How can swinging a sword come naturally to a person, that is impossible!" exclaimed Hermione all of the sudden.

"For him is it a natural thing to do." come Luna's dreamy voice as she looked over at the brunette witch.

"That is still not possible for a person to know how to use a sword when they are holding it for the first time." she argued, but then something happened which shocked the whole school.

"Granger, just accept that Luna knows something better then you." snapped Theo as Luna gave him a happy smile while the whole hall gapped at the display.

"Did a Slytherin just tell Hermione off and called Loony Lovegood by her given name?" asked Cromac McLaggen in confusion.

"Don't call her that!" snapped Pansy, Theo, Hannah, Zacharias, Dean and Lavender at him, making the Gryffindor cover so he failed to notice the dark looks coming from the head table, just like everyone other who looked at the unusual support for the strange girl from the members of the other three houses, two of them being rivalling houses to booth.

"Minister continue, I think the chapter is soon over." Lucius said calmly to the shocked man.

"Ah, yes you are right Lucius." Fudge said and hurriedly continued while everyone was still looking strangely at the seven students who seem to have become close in only a few seconds not even knowing the true bond existing between them, at least till now.

_**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**_

"An excellent hit for a starter Percy." Lucius said happily, by Juno, he missed working as a swords instructor.

"Seeing that this is not practice a mishit would have been fatal." Severus stated, he liked the little training rivalry between the two of them.

"And before we land in the middle of a heated discussion regards sword techniques let the Minister finish the chapter." chided Minerva shocking most of her students as they noticed the fond smile on her lips as she looked at the now pouting men.

"This reading is getting weirder and weirder and this is only the first chapter." Harry said while blinking.

"Do you think that someone might have spiked they drinks with something?" Neville asked while looking at this pumpkin juice suspiciously.

"Don't think so." Ginny said, but she had also pushed her goblet away, just in case she was wrong.

"Alastor, you are unlikely quiet." Kingsley remarked, normally when such strange things happened was the old auror the first to jump to conclusions of conspiracy, but now he was only sitting there and drinking calmly from his goblet.

"Nah, I'm only listening to the explanation to my suspicions so that after this I can work on more important things." Moody replied with a smirk to the confused wizard.

_**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**_

"At least now we know what the title meant." Tonks said unsurely while both Bill and Charlie let out a relieved sigh when they mother finally gave they hands free from her iron grip.

"Yeah, but the title should be "_I vaporized my monster pre-algebra teacher in self-defence."_" Sirius said before turning to his godson. "I hope that you don't pull such stunts beside third year and the last year doesn't count because you were forced into that tournament." he really didn't like how Harry seemed to avoid his gaze or how the whole school was doing the same.

Meanwhile by the Dursleys was Petunia less concerned about those around them, but more frightened about what they were reading, they will definitely _not_ be making that trip to Los Angeles this summer while Dudley was glad that none of his math teachers had turned into a monster like that.

_**I was alone.**_

_**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**_

_**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**_

_**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**_

There were some weak snickers from those who knew what those were, but they were all still tense from the things they had heard a few seconds ago.

_**Had I imagined the whole thing?**_

_**I went back outside.**_

_**It had started to rain.**_

"See this is the ground for the thunder Hermione." Ron stated to the huffing girl.

_**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**_

"Huh?" now was everyone confused again.

"The mist has started spreading." Theo whispered to Pansy who nodded, they house mates were still looking at them funnily, but they didn't care, this was they last year here at the end of the books they would be gone from here.

_**I said, "Who?"**_

_**"Our teacher. Duh!"**_

_**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**_

_**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**_

_**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**_

_**He said, "Who?"**_

_**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**_

_**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**_

_**Thunder boomed overhead.**_

_**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**_

_**I went over to him.**_

_**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**_

_**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**_

_**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**_

_**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**_

_**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**_

_**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**_

"Either is this a master prank done by the whole school" George started.

"or something is not right there." Fred finished while Fudge gave the book to Percy to read.

_To be continued…_


	3. Tell me he didn't

A/N: so here is the next chapter and a an explaining by AU, I meant that the things in the PJO books had already happened in the case of this story, I think the AU in the HP universe is obvious seeing how they are all reading at the moment. For other questions please PM me and I will gladly answer if something gets confusing.

P.S.: There are hints in all three chapters about who the godly parent is seeing that some of the characters I have picked had even in canon some things to them either in personality, looks, profession or as they property which is to easy to bind to a god. Feel free to PM me about whom you think the godly parent is so that we don't spoil the surprise for others. Also I don't know either Latin or Greek so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

* * *

II. Tell me he didn't

Percy looked down at the book while raising an eyebrow as he read the second absurd title, but started reading out loud anyway seeing that everyone was now looking at him.

_**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**_

"Wow really Perce?" George asked snickering.

"Those must be dead ugly socks." Fred added in as everyone laughed or smirked except fifteen people who paled.

Andromeda had a feeling that the title didn't refer to the socks looking ugly, glancing to her side she saw both her sister and cousin also in thought seeing how mythology was a muss in the Black family upbringing.

Meanwhile ignored Percy his estranged younger brothers and continued reading.

_**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twentyfour/ seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**_

_**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**_

'That must be annoying." said a Ravenclaw girl with long brown hair.

"I know something more annoying." Zacharias said remembering some of the stunts the Stolls and his other siblings had pulled on him, not that they didn't get paid back for it tenfold.

Zacharias had become so engrossed in his memories that he didn't notice the worried glances he was getting from his house mates who were freaked out by his grinning.

_**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**_

_**Almost.**_

_**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**_

"Grover, take classes in lying from those in the Eleventh!" at this turned everybody in the direction of the head table where Madam Pomfrey and professor Trelawney were sat blushing, they hands in front of the mouths.

"Continue Mr. Weasley." Snape said with a smirk to the blushing pair who were now glaring at him.

_**Something was going on. Something **__**had **__**happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**_

Most of the first years were also sure that they will be dreaming about her.

_**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**_

"Grandfather is acting really mature there." Poppy scowled; all those innocent deaths.

"Tell me about it, I think everyone's mood was just peachy while trying to get through all the paperwork they have got at that time." Severus muttered while pinching the bridge of his nose.

_**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**_

_**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**_

"That reminds me on Mss Granger's storming out from my class." Sybill replied thoughtfully as said bushy haired girl blushed in embarrassment while the others laughed at both Percy's and Trelawney's comment.

_**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**_

_**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**_

_**I was homesick.**_

_**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**_

Severus growled at the mention of poker parties while Lucius patted him on the back before leaning closer and whispering to him.

"See the fun side your old men had a creative idea to punish that bastard for laying hand on you and your mother." Lucius felt pleased when his best friend relaxed.

_**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The **__**view **__**of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**_

_**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**_

"And that is the wisest thing you could do." Minerva and Theo said at the same time approvingly before noticing they cousins chuckling in the case of the older ones while the younger ones outright laughed while the whole hall looked at the pair in confusion.

"I knew you couldn't not stop commenting on that sentence Min." Sybill said while leaning on her sister for support.

"Oh be quiet you all or I will make you to resemble a quiver full of arrows." this shut them up though no one could know that McGonagall was not talking about transfiguration. "Mr. Weasley continue with the book, this is only the second chapter.

Percy nodded to his old Head of House while Dumbledore looked questioningly at his deputy who only shrugged and looked at Theo who mounted a _"Thanks'_ in her direction.

_**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **__**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **__**across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters**__**doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**_

"For those who wish to know, this is what a person with dyslexia is faced with." Andromeda said as she took in the shocked expressions of most kids, the Ravenclaws looked expececialy horrified at the thought for something like that happening to them while they try to read.

_**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**_

At this broke Severus out coughing before looking at the book Percy was holding.

"I rally hope for you that this was meant spelling wise and not based on who they are." he stated incredulously.

"Uhm…professor what is the difference?" asked Marietta for her fellow Claws except Luna who turned to her, head topped to the side.

"Chiron is the trainer of the heroes of old in Greek mythology while Charon was the ferryman of the Underworld who brought the souls of the dead to the other side of the river Styx." Luna explained in a dreamy voice.

"That is correct Miss Lovegood." Severus replied in amusement as some people paled because of Charon. Really there was nothing wrong with him.

_**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**_

"They are easy to do." Lucius said while shaking his head.

"For you, but he is firstly more Greek." Poppy commented to the blonde, it was such a good thing that as a mediwitch she could send everyone out is she had a serious injury case on hand and could freely switch over to Greek, Latin had been hard on her.

_**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**_

"How does he know what that is like?" asked Dennis Creevy while looking at his older brother.

"George, do you think the same as me?" Fred asked his twin.

"Yep, and shirts, they give you this prickling feeling of nature." George replied to his brother and they high-fived each other while they mother groaned. Those two will never grow up.

_**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. **__**I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

_**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**_

"Why can't you two be so dedicated to learn? He has both dyslexia and ADHD and still tries while you have only the excuse that you are lazy." Hermione said as she looked at her two friends.

"Err…" was they intelligent reply which made others snicker.

"As I thought." she said huffing.

_**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**_

Some girls cooed at the sweet thought that he didn't want to disappoint his favourite teacher.

_**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**_

_**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said **__**"... **__**worried about Percy, sir."**_

_**I froze.**_

_**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**_

"He kind of has a point there." Sirius stated while some people nodded, they would do the same in such a situation.

_**I inched closer.**_

_**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the **__**school**__**! Now that we know for sure, and **__**they **__**know too—"**_

"If they are referring to that monster, then it was anything, but kind." stated Charlie blinking, he saw dragons less dangerous then that thing.

"Severus, do you know by any chance why we are always referring to them with that name?" Minerva whispered to the dark haired man.

"According to father they kind of wanted to be called that, he didn't exactly wish to find out how they had come to that idea. Said something about better to keep his mind safe from more utter rubbish he needs to already go through from a certain nephew duo." he answered to her.

_**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**_

All those who knew Percy were either snorting our as in the case of the younger ones outright laughing at the thought of the name of Perseus Jackson and the word mature having been used in the same sentence.

"Pe…Percy Jackson and mature…" gasped Dean while trying not to fall from his bench.

"Yeah, if… if he is mature then I'm a Minotaur." laughed Pansy as she was leaning into Theo who had already tears in his eyes.

"I would use many words to describe Perce, but his and mature would never stand there." Zacharias laughed while leaning on the table as Hannah giggled beside him.

"I…I agree." she managed to answer ignoring the strange gazes from they schoolmates.

"Do you guys have also the suspicious feeling that they all might know these people in the books?" Hermione whispered to Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Seamus and Parvati.

"I agree with you Dean is acting definitely strange." said Seamus as he looked at his still laughing best friend.

"We need to keep one eye on they comments and reactions." Hermione said.

"Didn't Malfoy's father say by the last chapter that the nook would eventually explain?" said Neville nervously.

"Yes, but you can't trust a slimy git like him." Ron whispered back while Ginny nodded in agreement with her brother.

_**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— **__**"**_

"The longest day." Hermione supplied to the others.

_**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**_

"Lucky us it didn't come to that." Zacharias said shuddering, things would have ended badly without Percy.

_**"Sir, he **__**saw **__**her... ."**_

_**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that." **_

"Could this 'mist' be something like mass oblivation?" Bill mused while looking at his brother.

"Sounds like it, only something tells me that it might be stronger." Charlie replied back not knowing that not far from them had Tonks and Kingsley a similar conversation going on.

_**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**_

"I'm happy that he doesn't blame himself anymore for something which was the decision of someone else." Luna said dreamily while her family nodded in agreement.

_**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**_

Harry flinched, somehow all this sounded pretty familiar to his situation, only that he knew at leas a little bit about what was going on unlike Percy. He ignored the looks his friends, the Weasleys and the Order members minus Snape were giving him.

_**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**_

"No! Don't give away your position!" yelled suddenly Sirius and the twins before being smacked over the head.

This action seemed to lift the tension somewhat.

_**Mr. Brunner went silent.**_

_**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**_

_**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**_

At this stared most people incredulously at the book, really an archer's bow?

"I know that there was a Kindly One hiding in school, but that is no excuse to be so careless and take out the bow!" yelled Poppy, to Hades with all the school will soon know anyway, just how could Chiron be so careless.

"Are you alright Poppy?" asked Madam Hooch one of her fellow colleagues and friends.

"Yes Rolanda." Poppy replied as she sat down and gestured for Percy to continue catching her mortal friends suspicious gazes in the corner of her eyes.

_**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**_

_**A few seconds later I heard a slow **__**clop-clop-clop, **__**like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**_

Everyone was looking confused at the groans comming from the five tables in the hall.

_**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**_

_**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**_

_**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**_

_**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**_

_**"Don't remind me."**_

_**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**_

_**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**_

_**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**_

_**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**_

_**I didn't answer.**_

_**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**_

_**"Just... tired."**_

_**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**_

"Good plan Perce, but unfortunately you can's shield your emotions." said Dean matter of factly.

_**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**_

"The poor dear, he is now all confused." stated Molly Weasley before turning to her side glaring at the five adult who snorted.

"From what I heard from my relatives is he most of the time confused." Poppy said smiling as she looked at the four tables.

"Yup." come the answer from Pansy, Theo, Luna, Zacharias, Hannah, Dean and Lavender.

"Uh… you two sound as if you know this Percy." Seamus said to his best friend who grinned.

"Sure do, but you will find out soon enough when he gets there." Dean replied confusing everyone who heard him.

"Getting where?" Hermione asked, she hated not knowing something.

"You will see." this time it was Lavender who replied.

_**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**_

"Welcome to my world." Harry said.

"Potter, hate to bust your bubble, but his problems are a bit in a different league then yours." called Nott from the Slytherin table.

"What did you say you git!" Ron snapped.

"MR WEASLEY!" yelled McGonagall in anger, causing her students to look at her with wide eyes, she had never snapped like this at a student leave alone on one of her cubs because of an insult. "Leave him alone, mostly if he only states a fact." she growled before looking at the Slytherin table from where Theo gave her a warm smile which she returned.

"What just happened… and why are you sniffing me Moony?" Sirius asked his now blushing friend.

"Sorry… it is just that there is this faint bad smell in the air and it doesn't come from me so I thought that well…" his blush got only deeper.

"No Moony, it is not me and I can't smell anything so it must be your imagination, but to my other question."

"Might be, as for that I don't know, but as some already said the book will eventually explain." Remus replied wile Sirius groaned.

_**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**_

"WHAT!" screamed most of the student population in horror while the Ravenclaws and Hermione got all starry eyes at the thought of that.

_**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled,**_

"Mine would to, that is torture just imagine a three hours long potion's exam." Ron said shuddering so he missed Snape's glare.

_**Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**_

_**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**_

_**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**_

"Ugh…his social skills are still lacking in some departments!" groaned Poppy while Sybill only shook her head, Chiron was a wonderful mentor, but he was terrible with comforting speeches like this as with changing the topic.

"We are lucky that Lupa has a different method for such tings." Severus whispered to Minerva and Lucius.

"Yes, which you have perfectly adapted." smirked Lucius when he saw the look on his friend's face.

"That is true, when my or they were my Griffins complained about you being to harsh to them I needed to bite my tongue to not start smiling because what they told me sounded just like what Lupa would have done." added in Minerva smiling when she spotted the faint red on Severus's cheeks.

_**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me.**_

"Hey Zach, this summer we really need to drag him to Number Eleven and teach him a bit on those social skills and if he is already there on changing topics." called Dean to the surprise of his house mates.

"Agreed, though in the case of the former one I think Annie and her siblings should be doing this, though by the second one you can count me in." Smith called back grinning.

When it got quiet again could Percy continue reading, he was slightly annoyed from all the interruptions, but decided to ignore it and just read.

_**Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**_

There were many growls to be heard in the hall, that girl was annoying.

_**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**_

_**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**_

"So this is why." Sybill said while rolling her eyes. Chiron, really.

_**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**_

"Ugh… he is sooo going to misunderstand that one." groaned Pansy as she leaned back in her seat, hands on her eyes.

_**My eyes stung.**_

_**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**_

"On that fact you can't really change much as for the other yep, Perce certainly got it wrong." Dean said while shaking his head.

_**"Right," I said, trembling.**_

_**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**_

"And that one just made it worse." Hannah added in while shaking her head not noticing how the poor ravens slowly grew frustrated with trying to figure out what was going on here.

_**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**_

_**"Percy—"**_

_**But I was already gone.**_

_**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**_

_**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **__**rich **__**juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities.**_

At this travelled again most eyes to the fidgeting snakes who were trying to look anywhere then they schoolmates while Percy cringed by the next sentence because he felt it being so true about how he felt most of the time beside being ignored.

_**I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**_

"That poor child, he should not feel like that." Molly said not noticing the hurt and angered look from her estranged son, but his older brothers did and wondered what it could mean.

"Oh yes Perce, a family of nobodies and what are we chopped liver?" Zacharias asked sarcastically.

"Really, if there is no lightning, tsunami, earthquake, sudden darkness or something like that mentioned in the next sentence then grandfather and the others were to busy with something to pay attention." Pansy said with a raised eyebrow.

Meanwhile were people again exchanging confused or suspicious glances.

_**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. **_

_**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**_

_**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**_

_**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**_

Some people huffed indignantly.

_**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**_

_**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**_

_**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**_

_**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**_

"That will give him a heart attack." Hannah said while some of the boys snickered.

_**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**_

_**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**_

"NO! You never confess to a crime!" cried Sirius and the twins before being glared on by Mrs. Weasley.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Nothing." they replied hurriedly.

_**Grover's eye twitched. "How much **__**did **__**you hear?"**_

"Not much, only the whole thing." Tonks said grinning, but on the inside she was already demanding answers, her curiosity was killing her.

_**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**_

_**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**_

_**"Grover—"**_

_**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**_

_**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**_

_**His ears turned pink.**_

"We are soo giving him lessons in lying no matter what Mr. D threatens us with because of it." Dean said confidently.

"Threatening!" Mrs. Weasley said angered.

"Nothing bad Mrs. Weasley." Dean said, really it can be kind of fun being turned into a dolphin.

_**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**_

_**The card was in fancy script,**_

"I always wondered why the cards were written like that, it is murderer for dyslexia." Dean exclaimed while looking at the staff table.

"Why do I have the feeling that Mr. D loves to see us suffer while trying to read it." Poppy said while looking at her sister who nodded grimly.

"He will never change." she said finally.

"I would really like to know what they are talking about." whispered Rolanda Hooch to professor Sinistra who nodded.

"Agreed, since when were they on such good terms with Sybill, mostly Minerva?" she whispered back looking suspiciously at the group.

_**which was murder on my dyslexic eyes,**_

"Told you." Dean stated grinning while Lavender rolled her eyes.

"No one said any different Dean." she replied.

_**but I finally made out something like:**_

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009**_

All Greek demigods smiled warmly at the mention of they home.

"I don't remember ever having read about such a place on Long Island." Hermione whispered in confusion to her friends.

"Why would someone name a hill like that?" Ginny asked, but no one knew the answer for that.

_**"What's Half—"**_

_**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**_

There were a few snickers while others had no clue what was so funny about that.

"Drake, your dad and some of the others are making me nervous." Blaize whispered to Draco who nodded. Pansy, Nott, his father and Sev were acting strange along with some others.

_**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**_

"Don't worry Perce, that is not the case." Nott said in amusement. Annie certainly has an interesting taste.

_**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**_

_**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**_

_**"Why would I need you?"**_

"Percy!" at this poor Percy jumped and looked confused over at his professor.

"Yes professor McGonagall?" he asked unsurely.

"Sorry Mr Weasley, I didn't mean you." Minerva said blushing while some people sniggered at the witch.

_**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**_

_**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**_

_**I stared at him.**_

_**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **__**me.**_

"Has this something to do with him being a keeper?" Tonks asked while looking over to her former teachers.

"Yes it does Miss Tonks." Snape replied.

_**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**_

"Things which the unknowing thought to be only letters on old paper." Sybill whispered.

_**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**_

_**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**_

_**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice**__**. **__**There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**_

There were many laughs, but the demigods paled.

_**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**_

_**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**_

Andromeda, Sirius and Narcissa were breaking they heads to find out why the three women working with yarn was so familiar while the demigods paled even more. They knew who they were.

_**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**_

_**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**_

_**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**_

_**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**_

"Why is he so freaked out?" Ron asked confused.

"I'm not sure, but the tale of three women and yarn is a bit familiar." Hermione said while keeping her gaze on Dean and Lavender who were looking about to have a heart attack.

"Severus…please tell me that he didn't send them…" Minerva said in a nervous tone.

"I'm not sure…" he replied, those three did what they wanted and no one except they mother had control about they doings.

_**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**_

"That is no joking matter!" yelled the demigods in panic, they were never told about this.

"Annie would freak out if she knew." Nott said to Pansy.

"You mean have a complet nervous breakdown before going after him with an automaton she borrowed from Jake or his siblings." she replied.

"True."

_**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**_

"We agree!"

"Dumbledore, are you sure that there is everything alright in your school?" Fudge asked the headmaster.

"I think we might soon find out the truth." Dumbledore replied while looking to the side, he also wanted to know what was wrong and if there was a possibility for new allies against Voldemort.

_**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**_

"The Fates!" Narcissa yelled suddenly, her face pale as a ghost.

"The what?" a Hufflepuff asked confused.

"The Fates are three sisters who wave the path of our life, they are the deciders of our destiny, they measure how long we will live, what will happen to us and when we die." Luna explained in a sad tone as she looked at the book while everyone paled.

"But that is only myth." Hermione argued.

"No, it is only myth for those who can't see." Hannah said coming to the defence of her cousin.

_**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**_

_**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**_

_**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**_

_**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that **__**snip **__**across four lanes of traffic.**_

By the time Percy had read these lines with an uneasy voice were most people in the hall nervous or slightly pale.

"How…how can he still live if his life line was cut?" Poppy asked trembling.

"If it was not his then he will continue on living." Severus said.

"You mean the sisters wanted him to see the end of a life?" Lucius asked before his eyes widened. "Do you think that it was _his_ life?"

"Could be." Severus said nodding.

"I have no clue what they are talking about." Sinistra said while shaking her head to her other colleagues.

_**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**_

There were a few weak snickers, but people were still nervous.

_**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**_

"I'm now even more sure that they wanted Percy to witness the cutting of the yarn."

_**The passengers cheered.**_

_**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**_

_**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**_

_**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**_

_**"Grover?"**_

_**"Yeah?"**_

_**"What are you not telling me?"**_

"How about everything?" Smith asked sarcastically.

_**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**_

_**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**_

_**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**_

_**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**_

_**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**_

"The sign to ward of evil." Hannah whispered, her own Keeper had done it a few times while on they way comp.

_**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**_

_**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**_

_**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**_

_**"What last time?"**_

_**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**_

"Most don't." Lavender whispered sadly while Dean hugged her, the other demigods had also they heads bowed while everyone was looking worriedly.

"What…what does that mean?" Neville asked, but no one answered.

_**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**_

"He is not the only one who is getting freaked out." Ron said and even the twins were not sure how to raise the mood at the moment.

_**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**_

_**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**_

_**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**_

_**No answer.**_

_**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**_

_**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**_

"This was the end of the chapter." Percy said feeling a bit nauseous to the stomach as he handed the book over to Lucius who accepted it with a nod before clearing his throat.

_To be continued…_


	4. And we are near

A/N: so here is the next chapter and we are now close to the revelation about our wizarding demigods… strangely had no one PM-ed me with they guesses which is kind of sad seeing that I could only be more obvious with some godly parents if I write down they names…

* * *

III. And we are near

Looking down at the chapter title turned Lucius to the others, nodding to them that soon they secret will be out in the open for the mortals to hear. Sure, some of the ones present here were descendants of the goddess Hecate, but it was already so long ago that no only did they forget from where they magic had come from, but also even the last trace of godly blood had disappeared from they veins, making them nothing more hen mortals with powers.

_**Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants**_

Some people started snickering at this, mostly the boys while the demigods exchanged glances knowing what this means, Percy would soon arrive at camp with his keeper.

_**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**_

"Percy, that was a bad idea." Minerva said groaning, Grover was there to protect him from monsters, but that is not easy when they are separated.

"Min dearest, I think it is easy to understand that he sneaked away." Lucius said as he read a bit ahead, ignoring Minerva's glare or the confused, slightly disgusted looks the others were giving him for calling the Head of Gryffindor_ 'dearest'_. Really, as if they wouldn't have nicknames for relatives they like.

"And what would that be Luc?" she asked also using the old nickname she had called him when they were young and he with Severus would spend time with her because the other campers were not on best term with her because of her mother. Really, sometimes she just wished that her mother would have married one of he other gods before the Flame moved to Rome so that they would not have this obsession with her martial status.

_**I know, I know. It was rude.**_

"Well at least he knows it was rude" Hestia stated from her spot beside Deadelus with some of the other witches nodding.

_**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**_

"Fine, he had a ground." Minerva said huffing to the grinning blonde.

"Ugh…that would have creeped anyone out." Hermione said still musing over the strange way her favourite teacher and Malfoy's father acted, she could not shake of the feeling that they acted like best friends, but that was not possible.

_**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**_

Those who knew Grover only shook they heads in fondness over the satyr while some others tried not to laugh.

_**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**_

_**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**_

_**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**_

"She is a lovely person." Lucius said fondly which made Narcissa raise an eyebrow at her husband, but she could not detect anything in his voice that would suggest an affair which relaxed her.

"Truly intelligent, if she would be magical I could see her in both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." Minerva said nodding in agreement.

"She is a wonderful cook." Dean said aloud as he remembered Percy's birthday party to which all the camp was invited.

"She is caring and a great example for a mother." Pansy said which earned her many shocked gazes because according to McGonagall's statement was this woman a muggle, so why would a Slytherin speak so highly about a muggle?

"She listens to everyone and doesn't judge others for they beliefs." Luna said as she remembered how Mrs. Jackson would always sit down with her and listen to her stories, her step-daddy also liked her and they still planned to go on that Narggle hunt together this summer.

"Percy is really lucky to have her as a mom." Lavender said, he loved her mom, but due to her being a divinity had she not that much time to spend with her children, but according to some of her older siblings was this still more then in the past.

"Lucius, I think you should continue, because I think all of us who have met her could go on for hours with praising her." Sybill said smiling to the blonde who nodded.

"Moony, what is happening here?" Sirius asked again, but the werewolf only shook his head in confusion while Molly Wesley looked curious about this woman just like Petunia.

_**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**_

At this many people turned in Harry's direction who shifted in his seat, nice to know that the better you are the worse things happen to you. The Weasleys were also trying to not look at everyone as they friends looked also at them.

_**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,**_

At this Harry flinched when he remembered how the Dursleys have lied to him about his parents' death so he missed when his aunt and cousin flinched, but everyone noticed the demigods glaring up at the sky.

"Nice going with your anger management grandfather/uncle/stepfather." said all of them which made the students, staff and visitors gap at them in confusing. Just what were they all talking about?

Then things got even weirder when thunder boomed again on the clear sky.

"This is starting to get disturbing." Ron said to the others who nodded while Hermione was racking her brains, they were all talking to the sky, thunder, a monster, an ancient sword, three women who were called the Fates. She knew that she had read about this somewhere she only could not remember where, because the topic must have not interested her to much or she would have got it already.

_**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.**_

This time Harry saw his aunt and cousin flinch when he looked over at his relatives, this all certainly sounded familiar to his situation, his closest friends and the Weasleys were having the same option.

_**She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**_

"That is awful." Tonks said sadly.

"That poor woman, she needed to go through so much bad things in her life." Molly said syphatically and many agreed with her.

"Life is not always fair to us." Sirius grumbled as he remembered how if felt to be stuck in Azkaban for twelve years even though he was innocent and the murderer was allowed to roam free.

**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**

Many smiled at this.

_**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**_

"He is so lucky to have been visited by his dad when he was still a baby." Dean said with a hint of jealousy, the first time he met his dad was when he made a delivery to camp and spent a few minutes with his children before he needed to depart, he had been ten at that time.

"So true, stupid laws." Lavender said.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, but she was ignored as Mr. Malfoy started to read again to avoid all too many questions which would be too personal for them all. '_At least now they try to spend more time with us in both camps.'_ he thought when remembering those few precious hours he could spend with his mother once every month when Narcissa and Draco were not home.

**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because **_**it **_**makes her sad. She has no pictures.**

Many raised at this they eyebrows in confusion, you usually have at least one picture about the person you date, mostly if it ends also in a child.

_**See, they weren't married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**_

"What!" there were many offended cries the loudest being Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh be all quiet about things you can't understand." snapped Poppy, the terms for a mortal lover to be allowed to stay by they godly lover were not easy and Zeus was stubborn, till now only Psyche got to stay forever by her lover, but that is mostly because Eros was not married, so it was impossible for Sally to stay with Poseidon. Really even Ariadne died as a mortal even though how much Dionysus loved her.

"What does that mean?" Molly asked, her face red, but the mediwitch only glared back, she was starting to feel irritated by the other woman seeing that she knew about how neglected her third oldest son felt by the family. She had heard him enough times when he was in the medical wing and thought that no one was listening so was she the option that the woman should first take care about her own children and then others. She also remembered last year when that rumour about Ms Granger spread that she dated Mr Potter and how her attitude towards the poor girl changed. Poppy Pomfrey didn't like hypocrites.

"I mean that you don't understand a thing about the situation under which Sally and her lover had met and had they son, so you have no right to judge." Poppy answered before looking at the hall in general. "This goes for everyone if I'm guessing right then should the next chapter have already some explaining in it, but the ones after it will surely shed light on the whole situation." she finished and Lucius started reading, cutting of Molly Weasley's rant or any comment form her now glaring breed, well except the only one he found to be toleratable.

"What, how dare she…" Ginny spluttered while glaring at the healer by the table.

"This is strange, Madam Pomfrey never acted like this." Neville said in a stunned tone and Harry needed to agree, by the amount of times he was in the medical wing had the healer never spoken in such a harsh tone with anyone. He also noticed how Dean and Lavender seemed to smile at her, strange.

_**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**_

"The truth hidden in a lie." Luna said with a soft smile which made those around her raise they eyebrows, was this a clue?

"Much better then my mothers _"Your father is doing time."_" Zacharias said while shaking his head.

"So yours used also that one?" Dean called over to his half-brother who nodded which made everyone confused who had met Smith's father and he was clearly not in jail.

"Erm…I hope that Dean is not implying that Smith's dad cheated on his wife with Dean's mom." Seamus said looking slightly green while the other nodded, the two Weasleys were still angry just like they brothers by the table.

_**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**_

The females smiled at the woman's devotion to her dreams and her child while those who knew Percy were holding back snorts. They friend was making a large understatement there that one was clear.

_**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**_

All the demigods who had heard a few things from Percy about his first stepdad, which was not much mind you, growled in anger.

"The only good thing about him was the presence of his smell; it must have been immense to hide him." Minerva said glaring at the book while crossing her arms in front of her chest, not caring about the confused looks she was getting, though they were starting to be slightly annoying.

_**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her,**_

Many people narrowed they eyes at this while the growls got louder.

"I think it is good to mention that this sorry excuse of a human being is currently a _family guest_ and will _enjoy _our hospitality for a _long_ time to the fullest." Severus said with a grin on his lips which made everyone wish to leave the Great Hall as fast as they could, somehow the grin and the strange implication behind his words scared everyone.

"Remind me why Voldemort is the Dark Lord and not him?" Sirius whispered to Remus who stared shuddering at they old school rival while trying to decide if he should try finding out the meaning behind his words or if it would be better not knowing. He settled for not knowing.

_**the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**_

"I don't like where this is heading" said Susan Bones and many nodded with her in agrement.

_**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**_

Many people in the Great Hall looked eiher sick, like aunt Petunia as she imagined the mess, or angry. The only ground why Vernon scowled was because after this would he never get his wife to allow him to hold a poker party for his colleagues to get in more points for a promotion.

_**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**_

_**"Where's my mom?"**_

_**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**_

"HE DARED TO ASK HIS TWELVE YEARS OLD STEPSON FOR MONEY!" screamed all females in the hall enraged by this sorry excuse of a man, the twins meanwhile forgetting they anger at the school healer were making plans to prank this muggle while Sirius made plans to visit this guy and teach him how to threat a child.

Harry was feeling shocked, even the Dursleys were much warmer to him then this guy was to his stepson and that was saying something.

_**That was it. No **__**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

All the females glared at the book with hatred, Mrs. Weasley looked close to explode yelling like the howler she had sent her son in his second year. Not that the demigods weren't angry, Percy was family, he was they cousin so they didn't tolerate the way this mortal dared to threat him.

_**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes.**_

Harry bit back a snort as he tried to not look at his uncle because of the walrus reference, not hat Sirius shared his godson's sentiments.

"You know Dursley" he said while looking Vernon over "I was wondering if he is part of your walrus colony." the dog animagus said grinning while many broke out laughing, surprisingly even Fudge needed to hide a smile at the mental images, but quickly composed himself. No need to look as if he found the humour of an escaped convict amusing.

_**He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**_

"Eww…not even my mom could make this thing look handsome even if she spent the next ten years on him." stated Lavender wrinkling her nose and to make her standpoint even clearer an agreeing thunder could be heard making the wizards and witches again stare up at the sky in confusion.

"I have met Lavender's mom, she works nowhere near anything that deals with either fashion or beautification." Parvati whispered to the others while throwing uneasy glances at her best friend, she was acting strange since yesterday morning when she was held back after Transfiguration for a few minutes by they Head of House.

_**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer.**_

People were again narrowing they eyes at the book while Severus clenched his teeth, willing himself to ban his hurtful childhood memories back into the dark corner in the back of his mind. There was a ground why he studied occlumency, it helped greatly to deal with bad memories. Soon was Lucius also looking furious, as children of the gods they tended to not only inherit specific characteristics in looks, powers, but also a bit of they parent's personality, they greatest fear and fatal flaw included from which he was also not an exception. His mother was nearly obsessed with a working family one could call a perfect family or as close to that as possible. He himself strived also for that so had he little tolerance for people who worked on sabotaging such things and this man if he really dared this can be happy to be already receiving his punishment or Lucius would be at this moment on the way to him.

_**Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**_

One could have heard a pin drop inside the Great Hall, no one was sure if they had heard it right, but after a few seconds all hell or in the demigods case Hades broke out with people screaming in rage, the demigods were sheeting, but they needed to cool down or they powers might hurt someone. This was the ground why Theo had pushed Pansy over to Draco, ordering him to hold her and to not let go till she stopped shaking while he went over to the Ravenclaw table and pulled Luna close, whispering things to her in a strange language. By the staff table was Minerva holding Severus's hand, trying to calm him before the ghosts get a post-mortem heart attack thanks to him and all shadows in the castle gather in the Hall scarring the students, Poppy and Sybill were calming each other, both fighting to hold back the harsh glow of the sun they would emit if they let they anger get the better of them. Zacharias was helping Hannah to calm down, he felt lucky that only he had seen the large, thick whines creeping up the windows, but they were now retreating which meant that Hannah was slowly calming down as were her powers. Dumbledore also busy trying to hold both his magic and anger in, but his eyes had lost they twinkle and become hard after the reading of those words as memories of his sister resurfaced.

"That…that…he is so lucky that granduncle is already punishing him." Lavender growled, tears in her eyes. Why had Percy not told them that his first stepfather was such a scum? Her cousin was to nice, brave, loyal and caring to be treated like this.

"That is child abuse!" cried Molly in outrage while Harry was again shocked that against that guy was his uncle Vernon a nice person, his threats about physical abuse were all only words, he had never beat him and Dudley and his gang didn't count because he had learned to outrun them or to avoid the group.

"That is why some blood fanatics look down on muggles, because of such people." Ted Tonks growled, he never as much as raised his hand even as a threat towards his daughter who was since birth clumsy, he hated child abuse. In his option only true cowards would hit a defenceless child or woman.

It took everyone nearly twenty minutes to fully calm down from they anger, but many were still glowering or mumbling threats against Gabe Ugliano as Lucius continued to read, his voice tight to show that he would love wringing the neck of this pig, though he could at least enjoy the thought that he knows that justice was paid.

_**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**_

_**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**_

_**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**_

The demigods looked bitterly at the tables they were sitting at, if it werent for the usefullness of his stench then would have Percy never needed to put up with this mortal.

_**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**_

"That disgusting creature." Madam Bones hissed, her brother and sister-in-law were killed in the previous war leaving they daughter in her care, sure she rarely dated, the loss of the only man he actually wished to be married to was still hard on her, but still. If one thing was clear then it was that no man would ever step over the threshold of her home and stay longer then he can say 'wizard' if they threat her niece like that.

_**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**_

"At least one of them has a little sense in them." growled Theo, his sister would gut this guy with her knife if she ever found out how he had treated her boyfriend…scratch that thought, the whole of both camps would be out for his blood.

"See, this is the ground why most purebloods think so lowly about muggles and muggleborns." Hermione sheeted, her uncle worked in the child abuse department, he would surely charge this man immediately with abuse and neglect.

_**"Am I **__**right**__**?**__**" **__**Gabe repeated.**_

_**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**_

There were many sounds of disgust.

_**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**_

"If it depends on Mr. D and dad he will never win a game or posses much money in his life again." Dean mumbled with an evil glint in his eyes which scared his friends, but also confused them with the meaning of his words.

_**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**_

"Oh, please I bet that he only barely scrapped the line which allowed him to pass through his grades or his parents bribed him through." Lucius interrupted his own reading, his face mirroring the disgust everyone felt.

"That is rich coming from him." Ron mumbled to his friends.

"Ron, it is hard to say, but I doubt that he used bribery to get through school or his position, he uses it to keep out of Azkaban and to stay where he is and Draco is one of the best in our year." Hermione said, because that was the sad truth, Malfoy may be a git, but neither him nor his father were dumb.

"On whose side are you on?" Ron snapped at her.

"On yours, I only stated a fact Ronald." she said back clearly offended by his tone.

"Stop it you two, we don't have time for a fight and Ron, that was mean." Harry said to his friend who at least had the decency to mumble an apology.

_**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**_

More angered voices filled the hall as Harry looked over at his aunt, they only locked his room during the time he was at school and never entered it, the dust was always a clear indication to that. It was strange that someone had it worse then him even thought he still had his mother, this was also when he remembered what Nott had said by the last chapter about Percy having worse problems then him. Somehow he was starting to believe that, but only barely because Slytherin were excellent in tricking others, _but McGonagall said that he stated a fact_. A little voice in the back of his mind whispered, but he ignored it. Till now had he one over Percy, he was fighting since he was eleven, and he killed with twelve a basilisk which could kill with its stare and not something that looked like a hag.

_**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. Home sweet home.**_

"Ahh you gotta love sarcasm." Sirius said, even his old room was still there untouched in Grimmauld Place and he was DISOWNED for Merlin's shake, one would think that it would have been destroyed by his parents the minute he was out of the door, but they kept it.

_**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds,**__**or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**_

_**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak.**_

_**I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**_

Everyone tensed in fear, even the Slytherins were looking at the book in worry.

_**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**_

And the tension vanished and sighs of relief were heard.

_**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**_

_**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**_

"Aww." cooed all females at this while Harry looked up at his godfather and Remus in a silent question if his mom had been like that, a person who can light a room with they mere presence, both nodded and from the corner of his eyes could he see aunt Petunia doing the same.

_**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**_

There were many smiles at this, it was nice to hear that a boy adored his mother so much.

_**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**_

"Wow, she certainly has patience." Bill said in a stunned tone while looking at Charlie who nodded.

"The lucky guy." George whispered to Fred who nodded solemnly, they loved they mum, but her screaming was terrible, some seats away looked Sirius with jealousy at the book thinking about his own mother.

_**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**_

_**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**_

Most boys felt they mouths water at the thought of free candy when getting home while the girls rolled they eyes at them. Men and they stomachs.

_**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right? **_

_**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**_

_**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**_

_**I gritted my teeth.**_

Everyone else in the room did the same thing wishing the worst for that sorry excuse of a human.

_**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**_

"Or a God" Hannah whispered her suggestion to Zacharias who grinned back at her, glad that she was not upset anymore, or better too upset.

"True, but I think she is fine with the teacher she caught." he whispered back to her and she let out a soft giggle, barely heard by anyone.

_**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**_

_**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**_

_**Until that trip to the museum ...**_

_**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**_

_**"No, Mom."**_

"Percy, it would have made things easier if you would have told her, she is clear sighted." Poppy said in a lightly scolding tone.

"What does that mean?" Sprout asked blinking.

"You will know soon." Sybill replied for her sister and Lucius took this as his cue to continue.

_**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.. **_

"Not to her." Luna said softly before looking up at the boy still holding her. "Thank you Theo, I'm fine now." she said with a soft smile on her lips.

"Ok." the Slytherin replied with a smile of his own, again shocking the whole hall, and made his way back to the table where Draco had let go of Pansy didn't look anymore like a person who will run you through with her fork.

_**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**_

_**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**_

_**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**_

_**"Three nights—same cabin."**_

"I think he took Annie there last month." Theo said grinning as he remembered Malcolm telling him about walking in on them when Percy stated his idea. The poor guy really could not get a break and they were lucky that till now had he no clue about the bets going on behind his back regards when he will walk in on them the next time, on what will he walk in or how often in the course of the summer.

"Who is Annie? Both Smith and you have mentioned her already." Blaize said from Draco's other side who nodded.

"She is one of the most clever and dangerous girls one can wish to be related to." was Theo's only reply. "She should be soon in the book if I count the happenings right." he added as an afterthought making his two friends even more confused. _'Chill out Drake, but still listen carefully then this reading is for a while about your world.'_

_**"When?"**_

_**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**_

_**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**_

"Yeah because he spent it all on beer and gambling." Severus spat in a dark voice while Lucius patted hi back.

_**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**_

By all the glares the book got was it a surprise that it hadn't already gone u pin flames.

_**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**_

_**I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**_

_**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**_

More growls and dark looks.

_**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**_

_**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**_

"Always knew that Perce had the best mom on that side of his parentage." Dean said while his friends looked at him in confusion.

"She should not need to use bribery to go on a trip with her son." Tonks hissed in anger.

_**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**_

All men were now slowly edging away from the sheeting females.

_**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**_

_**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**_

_**"We'll be very careful."**_

_**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**_

"Interrupting it? Percy funded his stupid poker game!" Hermione said seething.

_**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**_

_**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**_

_**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**_

"Because he is the ground why they didn't come sooner for you." Minerva said sighing sadly.

_**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**_

_**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**_

_**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**_

"What an idiot, that sentence was pure sarcasm." Percy Weasley said incredulously before bowing his head blushing when someone people started snickering in agreement.

"Nice one Perce." Bill said in amusement, but his smile dropped when he saw the shocked look on Percy's face, as if this would have been the first time he praised him for saying something, the his amusement ebbed away when after going through all his memories he realized that this was the exact case. He needed to talk with Charlie before they go to bed, maybe he missed out some memories, at least he hoped that this was the case.

_**He went back to his game.**_

_**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**_

_**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**_

It was this sentence that made it clear for the readers that she really knew what was going on unlike them.

_**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**_

_**An hour later we were ready to leave.**_

_**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car.**_

"Would it have killed him to help them?" asked Ernie from Hufflepuff, that guy was scum.

_**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**_

"Even my uncle cares more for my aunt and cousin then his car." Harry growled as he looked up at his uncle who looked annoyed. Who knew that even he could have a good side to him.

_**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**_

"Like he'd be driving he's twelve" Hestia said in an offended tone while the whole Great Hall broke out laughing while te teachers shook they heads as both Harry an Ron slid under the table.

"That didn't stop Harry and Ron to just do that with a flying car when they missed the train in they second year" George started grinning as both Sirius's and Remus's heads whipped in his direction.

"and of course crash it right into the Whooping Willow, best grand entrance ever." finished Fred laughing while the two wizards paled, Molly was still mumbling angrily under her breath at the memory while Arthur minded looking at her or the other ministry wizards.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, YOU ARE GROUNDED!" screamed both Sirius and Remus, jumping up from they seats and looking at the spot from where Harry peaked out at them while everyone laughed at the scene.

_**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.**_

More laughter and the two wizards sat back down fumming while they past teachers grinned at them.

_**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**_

Harry looked again at the end of the head table, now this was more like his uncle.

_**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**_

"Yep, he had been always powerful and Gabe was truly evil or nothing would have happened." Dean said in a stunned tone.

"Dean, the first part of your comment is slightly off." called Nott over again making everyone stare because h used Dean's given name. "Percy is a child of the Big Three, this already equals being more powerful then the others." he finished while glancing at the staff table to his Head of House who gave him a little smile.

"Big Three?" Ginny asked, but of course didn't receive an answer.

_**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**_

_**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**_

At this broke everyone out laughing, the Weasley twins and Sirius being the loudest.

_**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**_

Minerva, Theo and Ron went all pale at the mentioning of spiders though the first two got imediately comforted by those sitting the losest to them.

_**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**_

_**I loved the place.**_

"Of course he would." Lavender said with a fond smile on her lips.

_**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**_

All demigods smiled at this knowingly while some of the witches still scowled at the mention of the man who left back his pregnant girlfriend.

_**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**_

"It seems as though her life force is the sea, no wonder that _he _got interested in her." Sybill said with a little smile, her own mother catched the attention of her father with her love for sunlight and the little hobby for making old prophecies into songs.

_**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**_

"What's with the blue food?" asked one of the confused Ravenclaws which made Lucius chuckle, no wonder that Percy was so adamant to break rules.

_**I guess I should explain the blue food.**_

Everyone nodded.

_**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**_

"Wonderful, so he has a double dose of rebelliousness in him, it is a real wonder that he still lives." Pansy said while shaking her head.

"What?" some asked in surprise.

"You will soon know." Pansy said grinning which made everyone groan.

"I'm starting to hate this sentence." someone from Gryffindor said.

_**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. **_

_**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**_

_**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**_

At this all heads beside those of the demigods whipped immediately over to a wide eyed Harry, this was exactly how he looked except that he got his eyes from his mother. Harry was also shocked, not only had this Percy Jackson a hard life like him, in some aspect even worse in the case of the man he has got as a guardian and his father abandoning them, but still there were so many similarities and now they looks. These books started to get scary.

_**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**_

"He surely is." whispered all demigods knowingly.

_**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**_

"You are also brave, kind hearted, dedicated to the people who you care about and would give the world for them." Lavender said.

"You are one of the best cousins one can wish for to have." Hannah said smiling.

"You are not scarred to give others a new chance and give of the feeling that one can talk with you about anything and you will never hold it against them." Luna said in her dreamy voice.

"A natural leader whom one can follow without a single doubt into the darkest pits of Tartaros." Pansy said confidently.

"In other words, you are a person about whom anyone parent would be proud." Nott finished for all of them.

"That guy kind of sounds like you in regards personality mate, it is pretty frightening." Ron whispered to Harry who nodded.

"I know that I have somewhere read about Tartaros, if only I could remember." Hermione mumbled in an annoyed tone, this was starting to really frustrate her that she could not remember. '_That topic must have really not interested me to dismiss it like that._' she thought in frustration, if they don't explain soon will she head to the library by the dinner break.

_**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**_

_**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**_

_**"But... he knew me as a baby."**_

_**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**_

Some people frowned at this because Percy had a faint memory which could not have been about his stepfather that was for sure.

_**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**_

"He probably visited when Sally was not there, or she would have scolded him for putting himself into danger because of the visit." Minerva whispered with a sad smile on her lips, at least could they parents now visit those still to young on occasions and spend even more time with they older children.

_**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**_

_**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**_

Molly nodded wholeheartedly at this, but then Sybill spoke up.

"Percy, even if he wanted to do just that was he not allowed, he had his duties to fulfil." she said.

"What duty is more important then a young woman and her child?" Molly snapped at the divination professor who looked back at her with the same look as Pomfrey had, somehow this was the first time that the other teachers noted that both women looked somewhat similar when wearing this expression.

"A duty which makes him responsible for thousands and about which you will soon hear." she repleid coldly before looking at Lucius. "Please continue Lucius, we are again taking more time to get the chapter done." she said ignoring the fuming redhead.

_**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**_

_**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**_

_**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**_

_**"Because you don't want me around?"**_

"Perseus Jackson!" called all the demigods.

"Erm…Perseus?" asked Neville in confusion.

"Percy's actual name, but he finds it embarrassing so he wants everyone to call him Percy." Lavender explained.

"Why does Neville get an explanation and we don't?" demanded Ron.

"Because Ronald most of you questions will be answered by the books, but this might not be in them." Lavender explained before turning away.

_**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**_

_**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I **__**have **__**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**_

_**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**_

_**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**_

Everyone was now looking at the book, hoping that now they would get the explanation they all wanted, the ravens by this time were already frustrated enough to cry.

_**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**_

_**"Safe from what?"**_

Some were now in danger from falling down they seats.

_**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**_

_**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**_

"What!" yelled everyone in shock.

"His father might have sent him to check up on Percy." Poppy whispered to her sister who nodded in agreement.

_**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**_

"Like Hercules." Pansy whispered while by the Gryffindor table was Harry gapping at the book, fine seeing withes and wizards before you knew what you are and the trip on the flying motorbike as a baby could be called safe and not traumatizing childhood experiences in the realm of not usual.

_**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**_

_**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**_

"Of course it would have, she would have taken you immediately to safety." Severus said groaning knowing that the monster his father had sent after them would be coming up soon. He had sent it out in a bit of an ironical mood seeing how it was the monster which got killed by one of Percy's half-brothers.

_**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**_

"We know that it is hard, but it is the only safe heaven for the likes of us." Hannah said earning herself strange gazes, because somehow they all got the feeling that she was not talking about Hogwarts and what did she mean by the _'likes of us'_ comment?

"Yeah, as long as you no one decides to be a major prat of a bastard." Zacharias growled bitterly. Luke might have died a hero, but many of them, mostly his siblings had still mixed feelings about him and the way he had hurt every member of his family, how he had disgraced they home, the blood of those who called him friend and family on his hands.

_**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**_

_**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**_

Definiately not Hogwarts or any other magical school, but could there be magical camps in America?

_**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**_

_**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**_

_**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**_

_**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**_

"The is a chance to become a all-year-longer." Poppy said, she had some siblings who had back then just done that.

"This is the first time that I have heard of a summer camp like that?" Ted Tonks said stunned, even those camps whose leaders live near it don't make they camps open all year long. He had spent some summers in such places so he knew that.

_**That night I had a vivid dream.**_

Harry shivered he, hated his dreams.

"Ugh…from all of us has Percy also the worst dreams to deal with." Dean said shuddering while the other demigods groaned, they dreams could show them the past or the future, which resulted in them not exactly getting a good night sleep.

_**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**_

"His father and uncle who are at war with each other." Minerva said sighing while everyone was looking at her.

"So, one of those animals could symbolise Percy's dad." Hermione mumbled while by the staff table were Sirius and Narcissa busy trying to figure out why the mentioning of a horse and eagle sounded familiar, heck most things in these books were familiar, the Fates were in it, a Cyclops, the killing of the snake by a baby, the exhibition in the museum, Percy's actual name, the sound of hooves, old weapons like sword and bow, if the didn't know better this all could stand in a my…

"This is not possible!" they suddenly jelled in shock while looking at Lucius and the others.

"Seems you have figured it out, but please refrain from spoiling the surprise." Lucius said with a smile to his wife, there was a ground why he picked her as a lover.

"But..." Sirius wanted to argue, but then he saw a strange cold in Lucius's eyes as they looked at him while Andromeda pulled him back to his seat.

"Sirius, please leave it and hold the information to yourself, it will be soon explained how this is possible." Andromeda said as not both her cousin and sister were looking at him.

"You knew?" Narcissa asked.

"Since a long time ago when Reg was only six months old, there was and incident and uncle Orion and Lucius needed to tell me to help them. All will soon be explained so please don't ask further." her tone was pleading and both needed to nod reluctantly, they now knew at least one part of the secret they all were talking about, but there were they comments and the fact that they know Percy.

"Great, they know, but we are still in the dark." Seamus whined when the sound of sobs could be heard from the Ravenclaw table who could not hold it out anymore and the whole house beside Luna who went around patting everyone on the back broke out crying.

"Sorry, I need to go to comfort my sister." Parvati said as she hurried over to where Padma sat.

"Well, this is something new." Ron said before paling when spotting the tears streaming down Hermione's eyes.

"I…I just ca…can't figure it out…" she sobbed in frustration while Harry started comforting her awkwardly seeing how Ron was too mortified to do anything.

"Sev, I think the book may have managed to break you record in how many students you can make break out in tears in a hour." Lucius said before continuing his reading as Flitwick also hurried down to his student, large boxes of never-ending tissues floating behind him.

_**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**_

"Percy had already dreamed about that bastard even before he got to camp?" Poppy asked in a horrified tone.

"I see what Will meant when told me that Percy's dreams were even more prophetic then by most of us." Sybill said making everyone who didn't believe in divination bite back a snort.

_**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, **__**No!**_

"And this perfectly confirms that the voice was not my father, but grandfather." Severus growled knowing that his father was highly blamed for this books happenings till he was cleared at the end.

"Huh?" was the reaction from those who heard him and knew that his father had been a muggle.

"What do you mean by this Severus?" Dumbledore asked in an interested tone, he had been also busy trying to put all the hints together.

"You will see soon Headmaster, though when you know our answer will be a firm '_no'_ with the books showing our reasoning for our answer." Severus told the Headmaster before turning away.

_**I woke with a start.**_

_**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**_

_**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**_

_**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**_

"That doesn't sound good" the tension in the hall rose again.

_**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**_

"Grover must have finally found them, but I fear that it is already to late if I remember the rumours right after the day Percy arrived." Lavender said while looking at the others who nodded.

"What happened?" Denys, Colin's brother asked.

"It will come up soon." Lavender replied, looking anxious, not only because she was worried about Percy facing his second monster so soon, but because they secret will come soon to light.

"And we are back by not answering." Ginny groaned.

_**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**_

_**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**_

"What's that supposed to mean?" someone asked.

_**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**_

_**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**_

_**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**_

_**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**_

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" **__**he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you **__**tell **__**her?"**_

"Grover, she would not be on the beach with him if she knew." Poppy said, her face lightly pale.

"What did that sentence mean?" asked Flitwick who returned to he table after cal mind down his students. The demigods exchanged glances wit each other, a silent debate which seemed to be in the favour of the wizards because they all let out a sigh.

"It means _'__Oh Zeus and all the gods'._" Sybill said before adding. "It is similar like when one says _'Oh dear Merlin'_." everyone nodded while Narcissa and Sirius looked at each other, this was a new Greek reference, soon a strange feeling started to spread in they stomach as they minds drifted to the only thing that could explain all of this, even the strange was how some people they know acted.

_**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly.**_

"He understands Ancient Greek?" Terry Boot asked shocked, he had once tried to learn normal Greek and nearly failed.

"This is another confirmation." Sirius mumbled in a faint tone which started to worry Remus.

_**I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on—**_

Before anyone could react Lucius hurried on with reading, the chapter would be over soon.

_**and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**_

_**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: **__**"Percy. **__**Tell me **__**now**__**!"**_

_**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**_

"Don't blame her." Dean mumbled, Lavender gripping his arm, it would be time soon.

_**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. **__**Go**__**!**__**"**_

_**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**_

"What! Get on with it already" the Ravenclaws yelled in frustration while everyone was looking at them worriedly.

_**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**_

"WHAT!" screamed the whole hall in shock while the two Black cousins were running through in they head over all mythical creatures who were part human part animal looking, but still had two legs to walk on.

"So he is a half-breed?" Umbridge asked in disgust before jumping up in panic and started staring down under the table. She could have sworn that something like a hand made of bones had grabbed her leg, but nothing was there.

"Is everything alright Dolores?" Fudge asked in confusion.

"Of course Minister." she replied as she sat down warily.

"So, this chapter is over your turn Sev." Lucius said as he handed over the book flipped to the next chapter.

"Wonderful, I get to read about the ironical joke my father sent out." Severus mumbled so that only Lucius heard together with Lupin who had enchanted hearing, making the werewolf raise an eyebrow. He knew that Severus's father was a muggle and he was dead since a long time ago so why would he talk about him in present tense and imply that whatever is after that boy was sent by him? He also didn't get the joke comment, but further thoughts were halted because te black haired wizard started reading. "_**My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting**_**"**

_To be continued…_


	5. Excuse me, he is wearing a what!

A/N: so here is a new chapter and I'm glad that so many managed to guess right about the godly parents…though I think I asked to send me the answers in PM so to not spoil it for others, but fine the revelation is near so…

* * *

IV. Excuse me, he is wearing a what?!

The whole hall was staring blankly at they professor while trying to contemplate how bullfighting come into this story. Narcissa and Sirius on the other hand exchanged terrified glances with Andromeda, there was only one creature in Greek mythology that was associated with the bull and could move around on land.

_**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**_

"Isn't this a bit dangerous to drive like this when one can hardly see from both the darkness and rain?" Susan asked the adults.

"Yes it is Ms Bones, but don't worry the road they are going on is mostly straight and this is still a better option then to wait for that what is after them." Minerva explained to the girl.

"I would also be keeping my foot on the gas if _that_ was behind me." Sirius said as he waved at the Weasley twins signalling that he won't tell them what it was.

_**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**_

There were some faint laughs around the hall, but the tension was slowly creeping around them.

_**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**_

There were a few seconds of silence before the whole hall broke out laughing, the demigods being the loudest in they amusement because they could clearly see Grover's face in front of them if he would ever read this. After calming down a bit cleared Severus his throat and continued, he was kind of glad that Percy had this little ability to cheer people up and that look on the Toad's face was making it even better.

_**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**_

Cue more laughter and now some people have even fallen from they seats.

"Way to stat and awkward question Perce." Dean laughed as he tried to get back on his seat, but it was hard to see from his tears of mirth.

"That guy is galleons worth." George laughed while leaning into his brother.

Again Severus waited for the noise to dim a bit before continuing.

_**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." **_

_**"Watching me?"**_

_**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**_

"A stalker as friend." laughed Sirius.

_**"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"**_

_**"That doesn't matter right now."**_

_**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**_

"Erm…not the best thing to say Percy." Zacharias said while shaking his head.

"You should only do that if you want to be trampled." Dean said while by the staff table was Umbridge again looking under the table.

_**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"**_

_**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. **_

_**Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**_

_**"Goat!" he cried.**_

The Ravenclaw table looked again thoughtful as did Hermione whishing to have a chance to head for the library to find out the answer.

_**"What?"**_

_**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**_

_**"You just said it didn't matter."**_

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**_

_**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**_

All the older students who were present by Harry's second year shuddered and those who got to meet the basilisk flinched.

"Myths are dangerous." said Justin as he tried to not remember what happened in his second year.

"I hate basilisks." said another student while both Sirius and Remus stared with wide eyes in front of them, they king of looked close to fainting.

"I hope that neither of those two books deals with second year or I fear Sirius and Remus might need to be brought to St. Mungos." Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione as Neville who sat the closest to Ginny started comforting her when she started shivering.

"I also hope, mum would kill me if she knew that it was my idea with the car." Ron whispered back as he glanced at his mother who had gone pale at the memory of nearly loosing two of her children.

"You should have sent Hedwig and you would have been fine." Hermione chided them, but still racked her brain about satyrs.

"But you must agree that the car was a great help in our escape from Aragog." Harry said while Ron visibly paled.

"Don't mention that thing again Harry." he squeaked, those spiders gave him nightmares for months.

_**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**_

_**"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**_

"Why is he so adamant about that?" asked someone from the Slytherin table.

"It is a type of reassurance for him that she really existed and was not only a product of his fantasy." explained Narcissa at which those who were asking themselves the same nodded, they would kind of do the same.

_**"Of course."**_

_**"Then why—"**_

_**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**_

_**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**_

"You are not the only one who wants to know that." come it from most of the hall.

"Lucius…" Narcissa asked, both her and Sirius have already come to the conclusion that this was the only plausible explanation and after leaning over to Andromeda were they confirmed about what they were.

"I know that it is kind of hard to imagine, but the books fully explain how this is possible." Lucius replied calmly to her, she nodded reluctantly, ignoring the looks she got from the table.

_**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**_

_**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**_

_**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**_

_**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**_

Severus suddenly stopped looking annoyed at the book while Lucius snorted.

"A lovely way to introduce him to the thought of his other side Grover." he said before looking up at the glaring face of his best friend and cousin. "Cheer up Sev, you know that he really has some of those for his usage and this family is messed up for all of eternity."

"I know, you remember those _"family meetings"_ we tend to have in winter?" Severus asked while the other demigods groaned remembering those Winter Solstices.

"Somehow I can imagine." Sirius mumbled now that he knew what they were before shuddering, it was probably a good thing that he was still alive.

"Again, does anyone know what the bloody hell they are talking about?" Ron asked his friends while looking suspiciously at Dean and Lavender who were massaging they foreheads doe to some memories.

"Ron, don't swear and I'm not sure, this whole Lord of the Dead thing is a bit unsettling and the way professor Snape and Mr Malfoy are talking is kind of as if they would be related to this person." she said unsurely.

"Do you think that this person is…" Neville trailed of.

"Well it could be Voldemort, but I don't know if he uses bulls." Harry said while his friends flinched, that was still annoying it was just a nickname a madman had given himself so neither of them noticed Remus staring with wide, fearful eyes at Severus as he remembered that at the start of the chapter the man had referred to the pursuers sender as his father.

_**"Grover!"**_

_**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**_

_**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**_

"Mate, your mind is telling here an eternally different story." Charlie said, in his option had that kid more then enough fantasy with all those comparisons so far.

_**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened **_

_**farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**_

The demigods snorted at the mention of strawberries, remembering how a certain Son of Hermes would spend hours staring at a Daughter of Demeter.

_**"Where are we going?" I asked.**_

_**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**_

_**"The place you didn't want me to go."**_

_**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**_

_**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**_

_**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**_

"Way to stat this to him, no wonder he was so extremely confused." Pansy groaned while everyone tensed.

"Are those ladies now also like the grimm?" Parvati asked.

"Not fully, unlike the grimm the Fates tend to do this out of a strange sense of humour." Lavender told her friend, her eyes sad, she would miss the other girl, but she would not be dragged into a third war anytime soon, not when she now had a better chance to have one day a family of her own.

_**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**_

_**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**_

_**"You meant 'you.' As in me."**_

_**"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."**_

_**"Boys!" my mom said.**_

_**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**_

_**"What was that?" I asked.**_

_**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**_

_**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**_

_**I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**_

_**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**_

The atmosphere tensed again, the younger children shuddered at the thought of one of they teachers becoming a monster and trying to kill them, the Order was giving glares towards Fudge and Umbridge to dare commenting about Remus who was holding his shin courtesy of Sirius that he should stop thinking badly about himself.

_**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.**_

"WHAT!" screamed everyone.

_**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**_

_**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**_

"He made those descriptions and that is the only thing he can say?" Hermione asked incredulously before turning to Harry. "Why can I picture you saying the same?" the black haired wizard could only blink at her dumbly while those who heard the second comment started snickering.

"Why am I not surprised that this was the first thing he said." Poppy said remembering some of her talks with Will and her other siblings and also her own experiences during the second Giant War.

_**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**_

_**"I'm okay..."**_

"Don't even comment." Harry said as all those who had already seen him injured looked in his direction.

_**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. **_

_**The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**_

_**Lightning. That was the only explanation.**_

Cue some glares at the sky while others looked confused at the glaring people. What was this thing with lightning and thundering?

_**We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**_

_**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**_

_**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**_

There were a few weak snickers to be heard.

"So like Ron here." Ginny said and this time some laughed much louder while the mentioned person reddened.

_**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**_

_**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**_

Sirius, Narcissa and Andromeda paled before letting out a groan, they knew what it was and how it was related to the title while those who didn't know looked worried or in Fudge's case were silently arguing with the wizards form the Department of Mysteries if they were _really _sure that these books were not fictions.

_**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**_

_**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**_

_**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**_

_**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**_

_**"What?"**_

_**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**_

_**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**_

"A summer camp with a property line? There is really a chance that they are really wizards, though those monsters are kind of unsettling." whispered professor Sinistra to Madam Hooch.

"I know, somehow makes me happy that Hagrid doesn't have a new monster every two days." she replied.

_**Mom, you're coming too."**_

_**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**_

"She won't be able to pass it." Hannah said, not till the gods have given a permission for a mortal to pass it.

"So it has some type of repelling charm on it." Hermione mused.

_**"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**_

_**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**_

_**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**_

Some of the younger students looked ready to start crying in fear while some of the witches looked close to fainting.

"Draco." said boy looked over at his two oldest friends, they faces solemn.

"Yes?" he asked unsurely, now that his mother seemed worried since she seemed to have realized about what his father and godfather were talking about was he more nervous.

"Promise us that you will pay attention to these books and don't dismiss any of the information it gives." Theo said in that calculating tone he tended to have when he wants to get his point across.

"What you learn from these books is important, it is something you need to be aware of to survive." Pansy finished, her gaze boring into Draco's who was now even more confused then before, but he had rarely seen his friends this determined so had he no other option.

"Fine, I promise." he said sighing, noting how both of them looked relieved.

"What was that about?" Blaize asked the blonde who shrugged in confusion, not looking at the rest of the house who stared at the trio for they strange exchange.

_**"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**_

_**"But..."**_

_**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**_

_**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**_

"Oh Merlin…" Sirius breathed, why did his family need to be obsessed with mythology?

_**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**_

_**"I told you—"**_

_**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**_

"He is so sweet." Molly said with tears in her eyes, she was worried about the poor boy.

_**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**_

_**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**_

"Waist-high?" professor Sprout asked blinking.

"Still hasn't changed." Sybill said with an amused smile on her lips.

"I think my uncle and aunt are not impressed." Harry whispered to his friends as they looked over at the Dursleys who looked incredulously at the book.

_**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin.**_

"Erm…I don't think that it was a good idea to describe what he sees." Ginny said as some first years looked about to have nightmares.

"Excuse me?" at this everyone turned to Snape who was staring perplexed at the book.

"What is it?" Lucius asked as he stood up and looked over at the sentence before starting to laugh. "Oh Gods, never knew that there was a type of fashion sense going on by your old man." he laughed.

"Rally funny Lucius, I would more think that through all those times they were hit to often over the head and something got damaged in there." he said dryly before continuing.

_**He wore no clothes except under wear—**_

Everyone stared blinking at the book if they had heard right.

_**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—**_

And with that everyone broke out laughing, they fears a bit dissolving, but not for to long…

_**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**_

_**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**_

"Lucius…tell me that you never had to meet with that…" Andromeda asked in a faint tone while ignoring the looks from both her husband and daughter.

"Fortunately no, though there might come some things up in these books to which I hade unfortunate chance to meet." the blonde replied, it was futile trying to reassure her she had been present by a monster attack and saw how dangerous that was.

"Why is Tonks's mother worried about that git?" Ron hissed, but the others were too absorbed into the book while by the Slytherin table Draco paled at his father's words.

_**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**_

_**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**_

_**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**_

"Who?" someone asked.

"Wait! Was this not the name of…oh Merlin!" Tonks exclaimed suddenly looking pale as she realized what the boy was facing.

"So, now Tonks also knows." Harry said sighing before seeing his aunt pale and let out a gasp, great even his aunt had figured out what that thing was.

_**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**_

"This will reassure him, alright." Bill said while Charlie nodded.

_**"But he's the Min—"**_

_**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**_

"Fear the name only increases more fear." Harry said proudly, but then noticed the glares directed at him.

"Not always Mr. Potter, there are cases when saying a name is dangerous if one wants to live." McGonagall said before turning back to the book, ignoring the huffing and confused teen.

_**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**_

_**I glanced behind me again.**_

_**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned.**_

_**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**_

"Only his smell is good, his eyes and hearing would only fail him." Luna said dreamily, but those who knew here could hear the tint of worry in her tone.

_**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**_

_**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**_

_**Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.**_

_**Oops.**_

There were some smirks and a few laughs at this, that guy deserved his car being trashed.

_**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?".**_

"That is a really good plan." stated Terry Boot blinking while his friends nodded.

_**"How do you know all this?"**_

_**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**_

"She should not call herself selfish for loving her child." Molly said, not noticing how Percy flinched again.

"No, she is not selfish, but it was a dangerous decision." Poppy said ignoring the glaring woman.

_**"Keeping me near you? But—"**_

_**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**_

_**He'd smelled us.**_

Heavy tension and fear had fallen over everything, even those who knew that all three of them would be fine, but still they never got the full details of that night.

_**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**_

_**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**_

_**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**_

_**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate.**_

"Well, he kind of had his reasons and now he hates you even more." Dean said carefully.

_**He reeked like rotten meat.**_

Everyone wrinkled they nose at this.

_**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**_

_**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**_

_**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**_

Everyone sighed in relief.

_**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**_

"No!" everyone gasped in horror.

_**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**_

_**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**_

_**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**_

Some people were having tears in they eyes now while Harry tried not to think that she was doing just the same as his mother Lily Potter had done, taking the danger upon herself to protect her son form harm.

_**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**_

"NO!" everyone screamed.

_**"Mom!"**_

_**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**_

"She still tries to save him." Katie Bell said with teary eyes as she leaned against Angelina who had given up holding in her own tears.

_**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**_

"Saved in the last minute." Minerva said sighing in relief which made the others stare at her strangely before the ravens gasped, one doesn't just start shimmering and then disappear, that was not logical.

"Severus continue, he should be finishing this fight soon and then he will arrive." Sybill said remembering how Percy becomes if one attacks his loved ones.

_**"No!"**_

_**Anger replaced my fear.**_

"And his enemy is a goner." Theo said nodding.

"Huh?"

"One doesn't get away that easily when they hurt a person Percy holds dear so family and friends." Lavender said, Percy would always protect those he loves.

_**Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**_

"See." Dean said wanting to know how Percy got rid of the Minotaur for the first time.

_**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**_

_**I couldn't allow that.**_

_**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**_

_**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**_

"He is in desperate need for better insults." Zacharias said, but this was Percy they were talking about so no surprise there.

_**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**_

_**I had an idea—**_

_**a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**_

"At least this means that he will be fine in the end." Pansy said as Theo nodded beside her.

_**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**_

_**But it didn't happen like that.**_

"Nothing new." all those who knew Percy said in union.

_**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**_

_**Time slowed down.**_

All demigods narrowed they eyes not sure is this was only an expression or if time had really flown more slowly at that moment.

_**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**_

The whole hall blinked in utter shock and confusion, there was no way that someone could have done such a thing, leave alone with twelve.

"I certainly can't do such stunts…" Harry said carefully.

"He had incredible reflexes." Hermione said.

"Not bad boy, constant vigilance." Moody said with an approving nod, he was now sure that he knew the answer about the situation about which one of his friends in the American Ministry told him and what was happening here at this moment. Snape was certainly right, Albus can try with all his might to get them to be they allies against Voldemort, but he will fail and they will lave.

_**How did I do that?**_

Everyone was asking themselves the same question.

_**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**_

Everyone flinched, that had to hurt.

_**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**_

Cue sounds of disgust, mostly from the females.

_**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**_

_**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**_

_**"Food!" Grover moaned.**_

_**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**_

_**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!**_

There was again a stunned silence.

"He broke down its horn?" exclaimed those who knew what that monster was.

"So this is how he got the horn." Dean said, he had been curious about that, but no one was allowed to bug Percy about the details, now he kind of understood the ground.

_**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**_

"Good, now he has a weapon he can use." Moody said approvingly, he needed to admit; these people had amazing reflexes unlike most wizards and witches.

_**The monster charged.**_

_**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**_

Harry would have felt glad if he could have managed to avoid being bitten by the basilisk like that in the Chamber of Secrets, but he was not so lucky.

_**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**_

Everyone relaxed visibly now that the monster was gone.

_**The monster was gone.**_

_**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open.**_

Some people flinched while both Minerva and Theo squirmed slightly in they seats at the reminder about how they were born.

_**I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house.**_

_**I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**_

_**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**_

At this the demigods snorted.

"I'm so telling Annie what Percy called her in his mind when they first meet." Theo said laughing as he imagined the blushing face of his sister and how she will march away with her knife in hand.

"So this girl is the one you were talking about?" Blaize asked in interest.

"Yep, that is her." Theo said still amused.

_**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**_

At this got the laughter of the demigods even louder.

"Isn't that cute, she was already thinking about marriage." Lavender gasped with tears in her eyes.

"And the Warplugs made them need five years to get together." Luna said smiling.

"I'm so going to tease her with this." Pansy said laughing.

_**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**_

"Your turn now Minerva." Severus said as he handed over the book, bracing himself for what was about to come.

_To be continued…_


	6. You can't be serious!

A/N: so managed to post the first chapter of the origin explanation for Enysswe one of my OC's in my fic "_The fate in our hands" _and before that I was busy for eight days with a translation for work so sorry for the delay of the new chapter.

P.S.: the little additional twist in the chapter come to me spontaneously while writing the part when Mr. D appears.

* * *

V. You can't be serious!

Minerva turned the book to the next chapter, willing her hand to not shake in her nervousness, before the reading started had they all prayed to Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. She had listened to they pleas to protect them from any type of spells cast by the others, they would only stay till the end of the books, most of they things were already brought away and the younger demigods would be staying for the night by one of them and not they dorm mates. Bracing herself she looked once over her family who all gave her a solemn nod, it was time to let them face that what they had forgotten. At the same time was the hall waiting in silence, still somewhat shaken about what they had read, confused about what was going on and hopeful that they would soon get they answers.

"Minerva?" Dumbledore asked his deputy, but she didn't answer to him.

"Min, you should start now." Severus said in a gentle voice which surprised most people, she finally nodded and started reading, but her throat felt dry.

_**I Play Pinochle With a Horse**_

"What!"

"How can a horse play?" come the confused questions around the hall while the demigods snickered, even Minerva needed to smile at the title.

"Perce, I think he would kind of feel offended to be called a horse." Dean said sniggering while at the head table Fred Weasley gave his old professor a cheeky smile.

"Never knew that you play games with a horse professor." he said grinning.

"Unfortunately Mr. Weasley I don't play card games with horses, I tend to play Friday evenings chess with a certain Snake of Hell" at this Severus huffed and kicked Lucius under the table "and in the past have I played the same game with a she-wolf." Minerva replied back with the same cheek which left people confused if she was now joking or serious.

"Snake of Hell?" Ron asked spluttering immediately thinking of You-Know-Who.

"I think she meant professor Snape." Parvati said as she pointed at the Potion Master who looked annoyed.

"Fitting nickname." Seamus said, but the she-wolf comment was still strange, she could not mean professor Lupin because he was a guy.

"Now if I may continue reading." Minerva said, she felt only slightly better after confusing the students and annoying Severus, but she was never one to back of, damn her fatal flaw.

_**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**_

"I know Percy's known for some of the weirdest dreams, but really this is even for our standards a bit unusual." Theo said blinking.

"Just do what my sister suggests" Pansy said while shaking her head before elaborating. "Don't try to make sense of Prissy, only pay him attention if in battle." she finished with her elder sister's advice.

"A good one." Theo replied back nodding.

_**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.**_

"Then good for us that you have gotten over passing out when something makes no sense." Zacharias said, they would have been in for Hades if Percy would have fainted on them in the middle of either of the two wars.

_**I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding.**_

At this looked most of the hall incredulously at the book, but some of the boys were kind of drooling at the idea of buttered popcorn flavoured pudding.

_**The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**_

Both Minerva and Theo smirked at they sister's actions while Lavender went on about the Florence Nightingale effect of a nurse falling in love with her patient, slightly scaring some of the guys around her.

_**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**_

"I can't believe that she expected him to know something she wanted to know." Pansy said in a shocked tone while some of the other demigods cracked up.

"Annabeth, you know that Percy can tell you almost anything sea related, but nothing much else." Dena said in a mock scolding tone making the others laugh even more.

"You sound kind of mean." Angelina said with a raised eyebrow.

"Percy is a bit slow at the uptake of things, but he has perfect bearings at the sea and a good eye for the little details, but rarely the big picture." Hannah explained from the Hufflepuff table before turning back to her cousin.

_**I managed to croak, "What?"**_

"A typical Percy answer." said Theo.

_**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**_

_**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**_

_**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**_

"This is one of the ways to keep a patient silent." Poppy said smiling as she remembered a certain redhead whom she always shut up with that method when he was about to rant, but then the lightness of the memory disappeared and was replaced by worry. _"I hope that now you are back in the presence of your father that he can heal you from your self-inflicted madness." _

"I know how that feels." Harry mumbled remembering third year when Madam Pomfrey stuffed chocolate into his mouth when he was about to speak.

_**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**_

_**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**_

By the end of the paragraph were most people staring gapping at he book while a certain trio were raking they brains about who could that be now.

"Ah, Argus he is such a good guy." Lucius said fondly, he shared his mother's positive views about him. "Also he had way more then a dozen eyes."

"Argus is the camp's security guard and a really nice guy." Lavender said while the wizards shuddered happy that flinch only shared his name with that whatever he was and not also his looks. Those eyes must be freaky to see.

_**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries.**_

"I love that smell." Hannah said smiling happily.

_**There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**_

_**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**_

_**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**_

_**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**_

_**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**_

"Only a few day, two the max, but he was really worried." Dean said remembering how Grover looked till Percy come around.

_**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. **_

"Who would name a camp like that?" asked and enraged Charlie Weasley while some of the students and staff also looked offended abut the blood discrimination.

"Be quiet Mr. Weasley, the name is perfectly accurate, some words tend to have more then one meaning to them." said Sybill in a calm tone as the redhead looked at her strangely, but Bill had started thinking, he had heard another term for half-blood somewhere before while working as a curse breaker.

_**Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**_

There were some snickers at this.

_**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**_

_**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**_

_**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**_

_**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**_

_**"The Minotaur," I said.**_

_**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**_

_**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**_

"Percy, don't repeat the name even if you are inside the boundaries." the demigods said scolding.

"Fear the name…" Harry started again, but both Lavender and Dean glared at him.

"Harry, get it into your head, there are names you don't say without good reason." Lavender hissed ignoring the glare Ginny was giving her, she may have not shown him before, but the youngest Weasley annoyed her. She was a hypocrite, clingy and her obsession with Harry felt sickening to her senses, she hoped that Harry would realize that he should not react to those feelings.

_**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**_

_**"My mom. Is she really ..."**_

_**He looked down.**_

_**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**_

_**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**_

Most people looked down sadly at this.

_**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**_

"You are not." Luna said softly, the other demigods nodding.

_**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**_

_**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**_

_**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**_

_**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles it.**__**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**_

_**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**_

Again, the Ravenclaws started to get sure in they suspicion that Sally Jackson was not dead yet, but she had been taken by someone. The question was by whom?

_**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**_

"You dad would have sooner risked a war then allow that." Dean said.

"He didn't seem to fully care for him when he was a baby and he would start now that the poor boy was alone?" Molly snapped.

"As said before, shut up about things you don't know." Poppy growled at the offended woman, ignoring the angry looks of her children except her third eldest's who looked at her stunned.

"Don't talk to our mother like that!" yelled Ginny in anger as she stood up from her table.

"I have the right to that Miss. Weasley, I'm not a fond of hypocritical parents, though I agree that they actions are often hard to see by others." Poppy continued in a testy tone her glare intense, like the burning sun. "Somehow I feel slightly better knowing that I would be putting up with some things here only for a short time." she finished and Minerva continued reading with a smirk on he lips leaving some redheads huffing in anger while others were confused.

_**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**_

_**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**_

_**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**_

_**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to **__**protect **__**you."**_

_**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**_

_**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**_

_**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**_

_**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**_

_**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**_

This seemed to snap some boys out of they confusion or anger as they stared drooling at the book.

"I want such a drink." moaned Ron hungrily while Ginny was still glaring at the head table with venom in her eyes.

_**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**_

_**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**_

_**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**_

_**I nodded.**_

_**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**_

_**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**_

"Only if you want him dead." Severus said at which some gapped at him.

_**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**_

_**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**_

_**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**_

_**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**_

There were some grins at that while Umbridge was again investigating under the table much to the confusion of Fudge who decided to send her to St. Mungos for check up, she may be overworked.

_**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**_

_**"What do you mean?"**_

_**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, **_

"It is more kind of a liquid combustion." Severus said.

"Ugh…I don't want to know." Sirius said, but he feared that he knew the answer the moment he hears the name of that drink and also he wondered why Pomfrey called Molly a hypocrite, but then looking back at this summer, yes he agreed with her she was infuriating.

_**and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**_ and with that Sirius's jaw dropped.

"Wait, Chiron…the Chiron?" Sirius asked, when Minerva nodded he finally understood the horse comment.

"Draco, you should pay now the most attention for your own safety, those old tales don't tend to extravagate." Theo warned the blonde who nodded nervously, he didn't know what tales Theo was talking about, he had heard a good deal in the past.

_**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**_

_**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**_

_**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**_

"It is a beautiful place." Hannah said happily and Andromeda leaned a bit further to hear about one of the two camps for the likes of her cousin and brother-in-law.

"The best place in the world." Dean said before he heard a cough from the head table.

"One of the two best places." Lucius corrected, he would always belong to Camp Jupiter.

_**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun.**_

Most of the hall stared open mounted at the book when Minerva finished with the description.

"That sounds really beautiful." Andromeda said when she turned to Lucius who smiled back at her.

"If you like this then you will really like hearing about Camp Jupiter, but that will only be later on." he told her.

"I would like to visit that place sometime." Hermione said dreamily.

"I somehow doubt that it would be possible." Lavender said, but before anyone could snap at her Minerva continued.

_**In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**_

Hagrid perked up at hearing about the winged horses, he liked taking care about the ones last year.

_**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**_

Minerva soon let out a small giggle earning herself many strange gazes, it took her a few seconds to compose herself thanks to her roman training.

"Sorry, but Gods I hope for Percy that Mr. D never reads this one, though I thing Dakota and his brothers would kind of take offense to this." she said with mirth in her voice.

_**The man facing me was small, but porky.**_

"Uhuh…" Theo started while by the Gryffindor table was Dean already biting at his tongue.

_**He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**_

There was a storm of hysterical laughter going through the whole Great Hall, but no one was louder then the demigods who knew Mr. D and agreed with Percy whole heartedly about his description.

_**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**_

_**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite.**_

"Not a chance with Percy." Hannah giggled still feeling amused about the description.

_**The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody.**_

_**And you already know Chiron..."**_

_**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**_

_**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**_

_**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**_

_**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers **__**B**__**.**_

"That would be nice." someone from the Hufflepuff table mumbled.

_**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**_

_**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**_

"He is kind of rude." Hestia bristled together with some of the other witches.

_**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, **__**if **__**there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**_

"Who in they right mind would ALLOW A DRUNK NEAR YOUNG CHILDREN!" Molly screeched when suddenly immense thunder and lightning filled the sky.

"I would be a bit more careful with my words Mrs. Weasley or I fear that you might be hit by lightning in the near future." Sybill said smirking at which Molly wanted to snap back at her, but then the double doors to the hall flew open making a good number of students scream in panic, Neville's hands were shaking as he stared with hatred at the figure standing there while the wizards had they wands raised, except Minerva, Lucius, Severus, Poppy, Sybill and Narcissa.

"WHAT ARE YOU BASTARD DOING HERE!" Sirius yelled as the man strode into the hall with an air of confidence around him, his long crimson hair flying after him like a cloak made of blood.

"I'm stunned that you are still alive Black, not that I care too much." the man huffed as he walked up to the staff table where Lucius made a new chair appear, he stopped there and flopped down, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"So you are fine now?" Lucius asked, completely ignoring everyone.

"Yeah, dad got my mind back to normal and after that proceeded to give me one Hades of a lecture about, only because I have inherited some of that part of his properties does not mean that I should run around using it to much. My powers unlike him don't heal it correctly if the damage is to big meaning I literally take over they damage and if that is continuous..." he trailed off.

"We warned you to stop it, she was a lost case, her mind was falling apart to fast in her obsession, but did you listen to us?" Severus asked while raising his arms.

"Shut up Skeleton Hugger." this earned Snape some weird looks.

"What did you say Grape Head." Severus snapped back, he hated that nickname, but if the other remembered then this really meant that he was fine now.

"Oh, shut up the both of you." Poppy said as she walked up to the new arrival with Sybill then did something which shocked everyone who had no clue about they true relationship, first both woman hugged him and then proceeded to give him a large slap.

"Ow, what was that for?" he growled, but not out of hostility.

"For what you put us through with you idiocy Rod." Sybill said to her childhood friend, she had been heart broken when the other started going mad because of that bitch, forgetting about his past and letting himself being dragged into a group of disgusting mortals. "Did you know how worried and sad we all were? Why do you think both Lucius and Severus let themselves be dragged into that mess? They wanted to get your senses back, but because you were constantly in _her _"she spat that part with venom " presence was it futile and then Reg…" suddenly a sob left her lips and again happened something which made the situation not only more confusing, but also generated a surprise which made some drop they wands by accident.

"I'm sorry Syb." he said while hugging his best friend, rubbing her back to calm her. "I heard what happened with Reg and can't believe how far away I have been that I have failed to notice the things around me."

"What does this mean and what about Regulus?" Madam Bones demanded, her hands shaking what was that Death Eater doing here and what was this about him not being himself and the other things. "Beside that Lestrange Sr. had passed away since years."

"It won't take long Madam Bones and you will understand and Lestrange Sr. was only a stepfather though he didn't know that, as for the other thing Rodolphus has kind of got a rare power from his actual father which unfortunately backfires badly if the one on who he uses it is beyond help." Minerva said sighing, Mr. D needed to send his son here didn't he now? "In other words he king of lost himself fully, forgetting who he was once and most of his past, his restraints and concision leaving back a sadistic monster with the lust for blood. Lucius's and Severus's attempts to cure him failed because the cause for him illness was constantly in his presence and after the mass break out this year got his father his hands on him and could get him back to normal, he is not a danger anymore." she finished.

"He should still not be here!" yelled Harry as Neville glared at the man who was one of those responsible for the madness of his parents.

"Unfortunately it is not good disobeying those who gave me the order to get here Potter, but rest assured I had enough of that wannabe megalomaniac, I only wish to finish these books soon so that I can start my punishment as babysitting help." at this the younger demigods groaned, great they had a good clue what that punishment was. "Also I was told to inform the insuferatable woman that she should keep her tongue, she already got four of them feeling annoyed at her and they patience is thinning." finished Rodolphus, ignoring the wands and glares.

"So, you are one of them." Moody said while sitting back down as the other nodded while the two Black sisters and Sirius gasped.

"Minerva continue." Sybill said as she sat down beside her friend, glad to have him back when he took her hand and gave it a light squeeze as an apology of being gone for so long.

_**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**_

_**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**_

"So good that we didn't hear that sentence since a while." Dean said as he looked over the Hufflepuff table, the air was still tense since the arrival of Rodolphus Lestrange, but he didn't care, he had been blinded by the madness taken over from his wife who didn't care about him, he didn't blame him.

"I agree with you on the whole account." Zacharias replied back to his brother, nowadays the only newbie's who get sent to they cabin were they own new siblings.

_**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**_

_**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. **_

_**With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.**_

"Excuse us?" asked both Theo and Minerva who had the same eyes so Rodolphus stood up and looked over the witch's shoulder smirking.

"He got that pretty right." he said before reading.

_**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**_

Draco found himself nodding in agreement, he had always that feeling when looking Theo in the eyes, but he said that he and this girl were related so maybe this was a family trait.

_**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, **__**You killed a minotaur! **__**or **__**Wow, you're so awesome! **__**or something like that.**_

"My cabin would have probably said that, but not her." Lavender said while shaking her head.

_**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**_

There were a few snickers, but the tension and hostility was still in the air.

_**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**_

_**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**_

_**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**_

_**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**_

"I now know what my father meant with the boy having the ability to get irritating." Rodolphus said shaking his head, his father had sent him here to listen about the things he had missed from they world, but he was not sure he wanted to know. While in camp had he met his younger brother Pollux who had told him about they roman brother Dakota and that Pollux had lost his twin Castor. That news had hurt, he had not known that he had three younger brothers now from his father's side nor that he had lost one of them before even having the chance to meet them. It won't be easy to hear if it should stand in here, the fact that he was not there for his family when he was needed.

As if sensing his conflicted feelings Sybill squeezed her friend's hand back to show that she knew how he felt, she had not been there when her siblings had needed her when camp was invaded or by the Battle of Manhattan. It hurt terribly to hear about the siblings one has lost to war, but at least had they died as true heroes.

_**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**_

"Fe…"

"Shut it Potter!" screamed the younger demigods.

_**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**_

_**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**_

_**"House call?"**_

_**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**_

"I wonder where he had sent him?" Hannah wondered.

_**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**_

_**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**_

_**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**_

"What kind of test is that!" screamed most of the people in the hall.

_**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**_

_**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**_

"Excuse me, but that is my father you are talking about." Rodolphus said incredulously as he blinked at the book, how was this boy still alive?

"Your father?" Tonks asked her uncle in shock, the others were all staring at the dark wizard with similar looks.

_**"You **__**do **__**know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**_

_**"I'm afraid not," I said.**_

_**"I'm afraid not, **__**sir**__**," he said.**_

_**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**_

_**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all **__**civilized **__**young men to know the rules."**_

More blinking and shocked glances while Rodolphus nodded along with his father's words in perfect agreement while the others only rolled they eyes, but didn't say anything.

_**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**_

_**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**_

_**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**_

_**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**_

_**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, **__**I **__**was his star student. He expected **__**me **__**to have the right answer.**_

"He does that by all of us." Pansy said sighing, but it was nice to have a teacher who cared about you learning things unlike others.

_**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**_

_**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**_

_**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**_

"That was really rude." Hermione growled out, she could now see how this man was the father of that monster who had helped hurting Neville's parents.

"But it is the truth, this is why some don't survive, they parent wants to keep them close, but they do more damage then good with that which in the worst case also costs they own lives." Lavender said sadly.

_**"What?" I asked.**_

_**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**_

_**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**_

_**"Orientation film?" I asked.**_

"And this would explain further why he was so clueless back then." Zacharias said, that film had all the basic infos you need to know about being a demigod and bout camp.

_**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life.**_

Minerva stopped suddenly, here it comes, there was no more backing out for them out of it. Giving one last look to the others she took a deep breath and continued.

_**Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**_

Dead silence, it seemed as if some people didn't even understand what those word meant so Minerva continued.

_**I stared at the others around the table.**_

_**I waited for somebody to yell, **__**Not! **__**But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**_

_**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**_

_**"Eh? Oh, all right."**_

_**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**_

_**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**_

_**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital **__**G**__**, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**_

_**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**_

_**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**_

"Smaller?" the demigods asked and the thunder could be heard again.

_**"Smaller?"**_

_**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**_

_**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**_

"It is funny how he left out Poseidon." Zacharias said to Hannah who nodded.

"True."

_**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloud less day.**_

_**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**_

_**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**_

Slowly the shock way dying down and many were nodding they heads in agreement, not noticing how hypocritical they were seeing that wizards and witches counted as fairy tales while the demigods wrinkled they noses, they now knew better.

"Nice, he will send him on a roll now." Rodolphus said while massaging his forehead, his father hated the idiotic way mortals tried to explain things.

_**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective.**_

Many narrowed they eyes at this, but suddenly there was a loud noise from the head table, turning in that direction saw everyone Bill Weasley pressed against the wall, his chair probably on the ground, his face was ashen as he pointed at Lestrange.

"Yo…you a…are a…" Rodolphus only put a wide smirk on his lips.

"Oh, you finally got it, I would have thought that one who had been to the ancient lands would know already." he said before gesturing for Minerva to continue while Charlie and Tonks coaxed Bill back into his seat. At the same time were two sisters and they cousin running through all gods with the letter 'D' in front of they names, they now had the uncomfortable feeling that the camp director was not human. Also if they have the god they might know what the conversation not long ago had meant about Rodolphus not being himself.

_**They think they've come **__**so-o-o **__**far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**_

_**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. **_

People started leaning closer with interest while Dumbledore got a twinkle in his eyes, but it was gone when meeting the dark eyes of his Potion Master who made a sharp negative nod with his head.

_**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**_

_**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that **__**immortal **__**means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**_

"He had the chance and choose love instead and to help his kin." Luna whispered with a soft smile on her lips.

"Voldemort would do anything for that." Harry spat as he glared at the head table, he could not understand why that Death Eater was here and if that guy in the book was his father then the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

_**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**_

_**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**_

_**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call **__**you **__**a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**_

_**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**_

_**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**_

Peple were raising they eyebrows, it seemed as if they would have in they frozen state forgotten that one sentence some paragraphs ago.

_**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**_

_**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**_

_**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**_

"That is impossible, one can't transfigure food or drinks out of thin air, that goes against the Laws of Transfiguration!" yelled Hermione and the Ravenclaws nodded they heads in agreement.

"Oh, please you are worse then those in Cabin Six." Rodolphus scoffed in a perfect imitation of Mr. D which made some of the younger demigods shudder, but Theo still managed to send him a glare with his sister, before waving his hand and letting a goblet filled with wine appear. The students and some of the staff stared at it with wide eyes while Sirius, Narcissa and Andromeda paled. They now knew which god that was and that the man sitting not far from them had tried to cure Bellatrix from her insanity which had started around her third year in Hogwarts.

"Minerva." Poppy said, she kind of missed Rod's snarky nature and he was gone for a long time so she would not scold him about drinking.

_**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**_

_**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**_

_**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**_

_**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**_

_**More thunder.**_

_**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**_

_**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**_

"And I really wonder why she happened to be made off-limits by you?" Lucius asked as he looked up at the sky where it thundered again.

"I'm slowly starting to freak out from this." Sirius said, sometimes was it really not good knowing something no matter what Lily had told him in the past.

"Sirius?" Remus asked his friend worriedly, but then he paled when something clicked in his mind, not good.

_**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**_

_**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**_

"Our sentiments exactly." Pansy muttered to Theo who nodded at least would they not need to suffer for to long.

_**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**_

The older demigods snickered at the expression on they friend's face as he heard that.

_**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**_

_**"Di immortales, **__**Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**_

_**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**_

_**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**_

"Finally he got it." Rodolphus said with his hands in the air when all the yelling started.

"A God!" yelled someone from the Hufflepuff table.

"There is no such thing!" come some shouts from the Ravenclaw table, they minds racing for other explanations, but they come up blank while around them the noise continued.

"So this was what he was talking about powers more ancient then we." Moody said as he leaned back in his chair, now that he had the confirmation, beside that the Dark Lord would have three Death Eaters from his most powerful men less was a good bonus, though this also means that the Order may loose they spy, but that was not a big loss if the other side gets weakened and there were still the two books about Potter.

"I remember now!" Hermione yelled, she could have slapped herself she had read a book about Greek Mythology for a school play she had taken part, but she found most of those stories disgusting or just cruel so she left it. "In mythology was it usual for gods to have affairs with humans or in they terms mortals, they children were called demigods or half-bloods." she said as the hall went deadly silent, they eyes on those who had acted strange since the start of they reading, realization slowly dawning on them.

"I think we should finish the chapter and then we will introduce ourselves properly." Lucius said with a smirk as Minerva continued.

_**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**_

_**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**_

_**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**_

Lavender scowled at this, but did not comment she only kicked Dean under the table who started snickering at the comment.

_**"You're a god."**_

_**"Yes, child."**_

_**"A god. You."**_

"What does that supposed to mean?" Rodolphus growled while the others snickered.

"At least he got of with a warning." Minerva said shuddering as she read ahead.

_**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**_

By the end of the paragraph were many students and some of the adults staring pale and shaking at the book.

"He had guessed right that was only a part of my father's true nature if he gets angered." Rodolphus growled as he looked at the flinching students, some looked even at the verge of fainting.

"This was one of the grounds I didn't like reading those books, most of those stories were just cruel." Hermione said while Parvati patted Neville on the back, he looked about to be sick.

"These gods are mental." Ron whispered to the others while looking suspiciously at both Dean and Lavender while at the Slytherin table was Blaize steadying a deathly pale Draco, both of them having now a guess why they friends, Head of House and Draco's dad acted so strange.

_**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**_

_**"No. No, sir."**_

_**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**_

_**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**_

"He never wins against Chiron." Rodolphus said, his previous demantor changed.

_**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**_

_**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. **_

_**"I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, **__**again, **__**about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**_

_**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**_

_**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**_

_**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**_

_**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**_

"Of course, my father is fond of the satyrs." the redhead huffed in annoyance.

_**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**_

_**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**_

"Was." sang the younger demigods.

_**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**_

_**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in **__**America**__**?"**_

_**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**_

_**"The what?"**_

_**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? **_

The Ravenclaws, Hermione and some of the others sat up straighter at this.

_**No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**_

The roman demigods nodded, this duality was the ground for the existence of two different camps.

_**"And then they died."**_

"Immortal Perce."

_**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England.**_

At this many jaws dropped in shock.

"Why do you think the magical community here could be born?" asked Poppy while looking over everyone. "Some of your descendants were children of gods blessed by Hecate the Goddess of Magic herself, but others were her own children, but unfortunately for you as the lineages proceeded the godly blood faded from your veins leaving you with a weaker form of magic. This is the ground why the Pureblood families even started back then, they wished to preserve they godly blood, but it was futile. Of course Hecate had kept some track on the witches and wizards, but due to most of them turning away from the old path and forgetting about the gods of old is she rarely there. Her presence is also the ground of muggleborns, they were after birth blessed by the goddess herself and have thus magical abilities which they can inherit if it is strong enough." she finished explaining to the pale wizards and witches, the fact that her words made sense were frightening them and also now Sirius and his cousins understood why they family had the tradition to teach they children about Greek Mythology, it all made sense now.

"You mean to say that muggleborns are only here because a goddess randomly picked them?" Hermione asked while Petunia wondered if she would have instead writing that letter as a child just prayed to the goddess then she might have gotten magic.

"Of course Ms. Granger, this is why the Dark Lord's champagain is doomed to fail if a certain person finally gets moving to get his job done." Severus said as he threw a glare at Dumbledore who regarded him with interest and then at Potter who stiffened in his seat.

_**All you need to do is look at the architecture.**_

_**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places.**_

Many muggleborns needed to nod at this, they had nothing to argue about, the signs were there, but they still felt strange that the only ground they had magic was because they were randomly blessed.

_**Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either**_

"HEY!" yelled Lucius, Severus and Minerva offended while the Greek Demigods only snickered.

_**- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**_

_**It was all too much, especially the fact that **__**I **__**seemed to be included in Chiron's **__**we, **__**as if I were part of some club.**_

_**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**_

_**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**_

_**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be smores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**_

At the mention of chocolate come Remus a bit out of his shock about gods existing and some of his past calssmates, professors and students being half-gods.

_**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**_

_**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**_

"A centaur?" Cho breathed in shock.

"Naturally, you will learn more in the next chapter about him." Sybill said smiling fondly, her teacher hated being scoped up like that.

_**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**_

"And this was the end of the chapter, I think we should now introduce ourselves to everyone as it was suggested." Minerva said before looking over at Rodolphus. "You start Rod, full title of your father." he nodded while standing up.

"Fine, I'm Rodolphus Lestrange, Son of Dionysus, God of Wine, parties and festivals, madness, chaos, drunkenness, drugs, and ecstasy. As his son I have control over plants with berry type fruits, but mostly wine grapes, but I have inherited the rare ability of madness, I can break a person's mind to a certain degree, but also heal it, but if the mind is to broken I don't heal it, but take over the madness. This is kind of what happened when I tried to cure my later wife." he admitted reluctantly while Hermione's mind was whirling about the fact that if this meant that there was a way to cure Neville's parents.

"I'm Sybill Patricia Trelawney, Daughter of Apollo, God of Music, healing and plague, sun, prophecy, poetry, and enlightenment. I think my profession should be thus easily explained, every child of our father had a degree of sight in them which allows them to have visions." Trelawney finished in amusement at the expression of some of her soon ex-colleagues or the sour and unbelieving look on Ms. Granger's face, this made her sad then if she doesn't realize her path soon would her chances for true happiness disappear.

"Poppy Pomfrey, also a Daughter of Apollo" this sent some jaws to the ground "as my _sister_ said already each of us can have visions about the future also each child of our father has a knack for healing." with that she sat down and looked smiling over at the Ravenclaw table where a young blonde with reddish earrings stood up gracefully, not caring about the eyes which were looking at her.

"Luna Lovegood, third Daughter of Apollo, but through my mom I'm also a Legacy of Morpheus, God of Dreams." she said in her dreamy voice making others now realize the ground why it seemed to always sound like that, they swallowed hard, her grandfather ruled over dreams? Hannah used this moment of silence to stand up by her table.

"Hannah Abbot, Daughter of Demeter, Goddess of grain, agriculture and the harvest, growth and nourishment. Through my mother I have inherited a certain degree of power over plants, I can make them grow, bloom, but use them also for attack and defence." she finished sitting down again while Zacharias stood up making some people who hoped that he was not one of them groan, really where were they by the past chapters?

"Zacharias Smith, Son of Hermes, Messenger of the Gods, God of boundaries, travel, communication, trade, thievery, trickery, language, writing, diplomacy, athletics, and animal husbandry. Do I need to elaborate?" he asked grinning before sitting down and Dean stood up.

"Dean Thomas, also a Son of Hermes and half-brother to that guy." he said grinning while Zacharias rolled his eyes, but he smirked back.

"Well…that explains the _'doing time'_ comment from they mothers." Parvati said carefully, but her heart still clenched when her best friend stood up gracefully.

"Lavender Brown, Daughter of Aphrodite, Goddess of love, beauty, desire, and pleasure, though the later two are more attributes of my older half-brother Eros. As my mothers child one inherits beauty of course, my mom is all for the natural beauty of the person, but the gifts separate beauty is the main aspect her children inherit while a few get the love aspect we can pick up on the feeling of love, even influence it like one tends a fire. Also there is the rare ability of Charmspeak which at the moment two of my half-sisters posses it is kind of like the Imperious with words." some looked uncomfortable and Fudge had already fainted much to Moody's amusement as she sat down stood Pansy up, an unnerving smirk on her lips.

"Pansy Parkinson, Daughter of Ares, God of war, bloodshed, and violence, he also represents the chaos war carries with it." she said before sitting down, she doubted that there was a need for elaboration by the frightened looks some of the other students had while looking at her.

"Theodor Nott, Son of Athena, Goddess of intelligence and skill, warfare, battle strategy, handicrafts and wisdom, I don't think there is much to elaborate about her inheritance to her children." Theo said as he sat down beside a faint Draco while looking over at the head table.

"You were told that when the Western Civilization moved to Rome the Gods changed names and some also partly personality, we are the descendants of Rome just like the others who had introduced themselves are descendants of Greece." Minerva said smiling as she took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm Minerva McGonagall, named after my mother the Goddess Minerva the Roman counterpart of Athena, in her Roman form had she lost the aspect as a war goddess, but one should never underestimate her children. Also I hope that I don't need to elaborate that even if names and some personality traits are different that the Greek and Roman gods are still the same making Mr. Nott my younger half-brother." she finished while sending a look to a pale Ron which made her brother smirk. "Your turn Sev."

"Fine." Severus said as he stood up, his eyes trained on everyone, he will like the reactions he will get. "Severus Snape, Son of Pluto the roman counterpart of Hades, King of the Underworld and the Dead while also that of the earth's hidden wealth, both agricultural produce and precious metals. My father is also the oldest son of the Titan Kronos and thus one of the three supreme gods with his brothers Poseidon and Zeus also commonly known as the Big Three." at this looked some people up who remembered this being mentioned before. "The common inheritance of his children, the fewest demigods with me it being seven children in all, is the aspect of being a guardian of the dead. We can raise skeletons to serve us, manipulate the earth and shadows, call forth ghosts" this was actually that for the first time that anyone noticed the look of respect and fear the ghost were giving the professor. "A rarer inheritance is possessed by my half-sister Hazel who can control over the riches of the earth, though as said the death theme is more prominent." he finished smirking.

"Again, why isn't he the Dark Lord?" Sirius asked Remus carefully who only nodded his head in fear, glad that the other had never used his powers against them, but he was now worried about James's soul if Severus's father was truly the one ruling over the Other side.

"And thus become Snape even more frightening." mumbled Seamus still shocked about his best friend, Neville had fainted somewhere during the first part of Snape's introduction.

"He has a sister." Ron said shuddering as he imagined how she may look like.

"So I'm the last." every gaze was looking now at the Malfoy patriarch, mostly his family. "Lucius Malfoy, Son of Juno, the roman counterpart of Hera, Queen of Heavens and goddess of marriage, women, childbirth, heirs, kings and empires. Though my stepfather Zeus's many affairs tend to make her jealous and vengeful on occasions. Ah, Cissy I hope now you kind of understand the peacocks, my mother had selected especially for the wedding as a symbol of her blessing." Lucius said taking in the scowls he saw on some of the faces in the hall. "Usually as the patron of marriage is it not her style to run around having affairs, but some years ago had my stepfather had offended her to a degree that he kind of dared her to have affairs of her own so she kind of went to prove him wrong." Lucius finished smirking, but then his eyes darkened, face morphing into a scowl. "She had done it two times, one of her children was me the other..."

"You mean Regulus." Amelia gasped, the comments about Regulus and Lucius's reaction to his name, it all fit if he had been and there was the meaning of Reg's name and that about which he wanted to talk with her before he disappeared…this broke her heart even more.

"What!" Sirius yelled in shock, his little brother the son of a goddess and a brother to Malfoy, but the look Andromeda was giving him made it clear.

"Yes, he was my little brother whom I tried protecting as best as I could, this was why I first started making contact with the Black family, my mother told me that my younger brother was there and that she feared that the monsters would not be the only danger he was in." Lucius said bitterly, he should have demanded from Orion to hand Regulus over, he would then maybe still here. "His father did everything to protect him, but his wife was not pleased and hated Regulus who on the other hand did anything so that she accepts him."

"But he was mother's favourite." Sirius argued, there was no way that his mother hated Regulus.

"That was you, in one of the Black properties should you find a box filled with bottles of memories, Reg told me that he once saw her in your bedroom tip your head with her wand and pull out a silver streak." Sirius paled further, his mother had taken memories from him, what were they, he dreaded finding out that it had been true that she had favoured him, but this would explain his room being still there. A sickening feeling started spreading in his stomach as he started to guess where this was going. "She hated him because his blood was purer then her own child's so she manipulated him to join the Dark Lord, knowing well that it would scar him, Reg was always kind hearted and caring, then he died as he turned against the Dark Lord. I don't know what he did, his soul refuses to tell me, his memories about this death are even after all those years still so painful on him that he can't tell what he wanted to do." Lucius finished with a growl as the only sound in the hall was the quiet sobbing of Madam Bones as she cried for the man she had loved, for the future which had slipped from her hands without her notice while Sirius looked on the verge of throwing up, his thoughts a mess, the others did not know what to say.

_To be continued…_


	7. About toads and bathrooms

A/N: so here is a new chapter, I will see if there will, be more, but that depends on that my mind doesn't switch back to _**'The fate in our hands'**_.

* * *

VI. About toads and bathrooms

Lunch had been a silent affair after Minerva and Poppy went to comfort Madam Bones, who had a hard time stopping crying, no one wished to talk. There were million questions running through everyone's minds about that what they were told not long ago. There are actual Gods out there? Some of they teachers and classmates were demigods? The muggleborns only had magic because of the Goddess of Magic had on the day they were born on a whim decided to give them a certain degree of magic and the went to pick more kids to bless? Were there more people like that around them? They were now sitting in a room with two Death Eaters who have a God as a parent, did that man that You-Know-Who might also be one?

Sirius was mostly pushing his food around; he was not exactly hungry after finding out that there was a chance that his mother had taken childhood memories from him. Something deep in the back of his mind told him that this was true and this meant that he had been horrible to Reg for no reason, if anything he should have taken the kid with him when he had run away from home or should have been there for him at least in school. He didn't know what was worse, the knowledge that his mother favoured him and hated Regulus, that he had failed to see that his little brother needed him or the fact that he was unknowingly sharing his little brother with Lucius Malfoy who was more then displeased at the thought of his death. Sirius flinched inwardly as he remembered how he had called Reg a coward when talking so flippantly about his death to Harry this summer, now that he heard that his brother's soul was still suffering from the memories about how he died he felt like the last scum or worse like Bellatrix.

"Now that we have eaten we should continue with these rather interesting books." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes as he looked over at the older demigods who were giving him dark looks in return.

"I told you already Dumbledore; we will be _not_ taking anymore part in this war." Severus growled out, his father had spent the last years doing speed processes for all those who had lost they lives in the Second Giant War and those who remained from the Second Titan War.

"Severus is right Albus, we will be only staying here till we finish the seven books dealing with our world, after that we will be returning back home." Minerva backed up her friend trying not to remember what her poor little sister needed to go thorough in finding they mother's statue and uncovering the fate of they numerous lost siblings.

"But you can't! You are the children of Gods, you could turn around the upcoming war in the blink of an eye." Bill said as he stood up from his chair, many nodding in agreement at his words, but the answer they got was a bitter laugh from the older demigods while the younger ones dropped they heads, remembering all those they had lost.

"You had enough wars on your own." Moody spoke up suddenly in a gruff voice, before Molly Weasley could open her mouth, as he looked over at the demigods who nodded with solemn faces, they eyes suddenly looking thousand of years old.

"The second Giant War had only ended the summer before the fourth year had started; I got the message that it was time during the Quidditch World Cup and needed to depart shortly after the start of the game." Lucius said with a heavy sigh as both Narcissa and Draco remembered how he had suddenly tensed after the game had begun saying something about important matters and was gone till nearly the start of the school year, to be precise he appeared home with pained eyes right before they went to the station.

"Meaning we only had like one whole year of peace which was spent with gathering the dead, giving them the last rites, rebuilding and being in panic about where our leader had disappeared, searching for him, meeting our Roman relatives in a way that could have been more positive and then going of into another war, now again against a murderous relative." grumbled Dean with a pained voice.

"Agreed, we thought that the Second Titan War had been bad enough against great-grandfather, but then we got great-great-grandmother wanting to kill all of us." Pansy added in with a disgruntled voice at the memory, poor Risse she took Silena's death pretty hard, she still does.

"Tell me about it, people say how Mother Earth loves all, well sorry if we may beg to differ." Zacharias added in as the whole Hall looked at them with confusion.

"Wait!" Hermione yelled suddenly making everyone turn in her direction. "I remember that the news from not long ago that there had been a freak storm in America cutting the outside world nearly down, it had hit its climax in New York, Manhattan in the summer, then later there were the strange lights in the Coliseum and then was Greece nearly cut down from the outside world because a freak weather and earthquakes." she said her eyes on both Dean and Lavender who had pained smiles on they lips.

"That had been all us, the two wars which had happened; it took an effort to hide what really happened." Hannah said sadly when by the table Rodolphus stood up and walked past the frightened Minister, who got woken up, a pale Umbridge, right to the wizards from the Department of Mysteries.

"Could I see the books regards us?" he asked them with a croaked smile at which the Department Head nodded and handed him the other six books. "Well then, the titles of the other books will give you some further hints and as I see we get spared to go thorough the memories of both wars only the first will be shown prominently." he said before reading the titles aloud. "The next book will be called _The Sea of Monsters _followed by _The Titans Curse"_ both Theo and Minerva flinched at this knowing that they sister was forced to hold the sky while Severus thought about Bianca_ "The Battle of the Labyrinth" _here the mentioned three people flinched again, this time also joined in by Rodolphus and the three daughters of Apollo. "And finally _The Last Olympian_, these books deal with the Second Titan War while the two others only with the leading up to the Second Giant War, if the events are taken so as by the other then there are three other's missing, but I think even these two will be enough, they are titled _The Lost Hero_ "all demigods flinched "and _The Son of Neptune."_ Rodolphus finished as he sat back on his place after returning the books to the other wizard before picking up the book they were currently reading, looking down at the title he stood up again and pushed it over to Umbridge who looked as if she wanted to scream. "You will read this." he finished in a threatening tone, she only nodded fearfully, those damned half-breeds, but she heard what he could do to her so she started reading, her face taking up an ugly purple colour as she realized what the title was.

_**I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**_

At this broke the demigods who knew what would happen in this chapter out laughing, except Pansy who looked annoyed on behalf of her sister. The others were still either miffed that they would not help then even thought they could or still to panicked from the comments not to long ago to react to the fact that Umbridge got this chapter because the title would embarrass her.

_**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,**_

"Centaur Perce." Dean said smirking, glad that there was something which made it easier to ignore the pain he felt at the memory of the two wars.

_**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him.**_

_**I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**_

Now there were a few more people laughing, but it was not the same as before they all were reprimanded and informed about the truth.

_**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."**_

Harry felt again involuntarily similar to Percy, he had gotten the same reaction like him, but still it annoyed him that as it seemed were they all pretty powerful so why couldn't they help? They will even abandon them just like that, not that he will miss Snape, Malfoy or Lestrange, that was a good thing that they left, but the others, that was not fair. '_But they already went through two wars not long ago'._ chided a voice in the back of his mind making him feel guilty, would he want to take part in a war so soon when the last time they had like one year between two of them?

_**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**_

Harry nodded again, he knew that feeling alright and it got every year worse.

"Sorry Perce, but by the time you woke up there were a bunch of wild rumours about your arrival circling around camp and we were all curious about which was true." Dean said with a sheepish smile on his lips, their and Lavender's cabins were mostly the cause of those.

_**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vaneon top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**_

"Uhg…so glad that we have Rachel now to do that job." Zacharias said with a shudder as he remembered that Capture the Flag game when that thing come down from the attic, till then had he never realized how lucky he had been to have never been sent up there.

"What kind of job?" Justin asked carefully, he was still vary about his two house mates after they revelation, but he was also curious.

"It will be explained soon in the upcoming chapters." Hannah explained to the other who nodded.

_**What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**_

_**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**_

_**"Somebody lives there?"**_

_**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**_

All demigods nodded they heads while Rodolphus leaned over Lucius to Severus.

"That girl had still guts to walk up to your father when he was crushed and sheeting." he whispered to the son of Pluto.

_**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**_

Now everyone shuddered, not liking what this implied in the least.

_**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**_

_**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**_

_**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**_

"Shouldn't your parents if they are gods pay for that?" come if from someone at the Slytherin table making a good deal of people nod.

"They would, but at the time before humans were counted as something of worth by the divine beings were certain laws passed down which are only now after the two wars being bent as much as possible to change some things. Laws by divine beings are a powerful thing, a force of its own." Poppy explained as she flashed a glare at Molly Weasley as she was about to open her mouth. It stunned her that the woman had forgot that she had already offended four gods and she had a slight guess that one of them was her father which is stunning seeing how since the times had changed was the god not that easy to offend for him wishing to harm someone leave alone a woman.

_**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around.**_

"Oh, they sure do and that is inheritable." Lucius said snickering as he looked over with the others to a blushing Rodolphus who was glaring down at the table when his other friends also started laughing.

"Cut it out you all and let the oversized pink toad read." he snapped at his friends not caring about the angry look on Umbridge's face as she took offence to that statement while a few people started snickering at the comment.

"You know, if he would have not become such a crazy bastard would I love talking to this guy, he certainly has a way with nicknames." George whispered to Fred who nodded in agreement with his twin.

_**It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, **_

Rodolphus forgot about his embarrassment in sympathy for his father.

_**so they grew strawberries instead.**_

_**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire.**_

Professor Sprout looked longingly at the book that sounded wonderful, never having problem with bugs that damage the plants.

_**I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**_

At this all those who had heard Grover play snorted.

"Give him some more time Perce and till then, cover your ears." Dean snickered noting the looks he and Lavender were getting, but he didn't care.

_**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**_

_**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**_

_**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**_

"Well, that didn't go as planned." Seamus said, but cowered by the looks he got from the demigods.

_**"But he did that!"**_

_**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success.**_

"After what I heard was it more that idiotic council of theirs then Mr. D." Sybill said testily.

_**After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**_

No one dared to comment by the looks the demigods were giving the book, though Sirius, Remus, Moody and some of the others enjoyed the terrified look on Umbridge's face.

_**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**_

_**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**_

"Uhm…I would more like say third chance." Theo said carefully as he and the others flinched.

_**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.**_

Cue new flinches at which Hermione looked over at the two demigods closest to them, her curiosity had returned, but seeing how most of they questions were rebuffed before was it not easy to pick one and hope that it will get answered. She like some of the others was also annoyed that they didn't wish to help them against You-Know-Who, but maybe they could convince them later on when they return to they dorms.

"What happened the last time?" she asked at which Lavender looked back at her with a solemn expression.

"It will stand in the next chapter if I remember right." she answered in a sad tone, Thalia may be now fine, but her story still saddened the campers old and new alike.

_**Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**_

This made everyone who didn't know, so the majority of the Hall, blink in confusion, from the description they got was he anything, but small for his age.

_**"How old is he?"**_

_**"Oh, twenty-eight."**_

And the jaws of several people hit the tables.

"He is twenty-eight?" Tonks exclaimed in shock at the information as he looked at both of her uncles who were smirking back at her, but not in a bad way.

"It should be explained by in the next sentence or the one after it." Rodolphus told his niece who nodded looking kind of awkwardly back at him and Lucius, he personally didn't blame the girl for feeling strange around them.

_**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**_

There were many nods at this.

_**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**_

And the jaws were back on the tables and some even looked horrified at this thought, namely Sirius, the Weasley twins and Ron.

"No wonder he hated being reminded on exams!" Sirius exclaimed in horror, sure he would not mind looking good for a long time, but looking for years like a kid was not what he had in mind.

_**"That's horrible."**_

There was a good deal of sounds of agreement to that statement.

_**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**_

_**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**_

The demigods nodded solemnly to signal to everyone that it had been bad which looking what they have read so far didn't make anyone feel too good.

_**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**_

"He is just as bad at the changing of subjects as he is in the case of prep talks." Rodolphus whispered to Sybill who giggled earning them many suspicious gazes, but she was too pleased to be sitting beside her best friend and talk to him to care. Poppy was only smiling for her sister; she was glad that Rod was back with them.

_**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**_

The demigods only shook they head at this when Severus suddenly tensed and looked over to the other side of the table where a still quiet Amos Diggory was sat.

_**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**_

_**"Yes, child?"**_

_**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**_

All demigods started to feel uncomfortable and Severus held back a groan as he saw the man look up and a strange glint entering his eyes. This will not be good if the man comes to the foolish idea to try getting his son back, Thanatos was still doing some overwork with getting back the souls that had escaped when he had been taken, with two exceptions courtesy of his father, but not anymore.

Sirius also tried to hide a groan as both him and Remus looked over at Harry and saw the hopeful look on his face, sure they understood the thought that there was a chance to get back James and Lily, but they knew that this was not right. The dead should stay dead while the living should live.

_**Chiron's expression darkened.**_

_**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**_

_**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**_

"We would also like to know that!" yelled everyone who didn't know.

_**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**_

_**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**_

_**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**_

_**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**_

"Stocked with monsters and armed with weapons of course." said the demigods as if this would be perfectly normal.

"How can one place children near a forest filled with monsters and what weapons?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"I would not say a word with the Forbidden Forest right outside and those monsters are under control and are used for training." Poppy said while rolling her eyes at the fuming woman.

"Well excuse me that I'm worried about the children." Molly snapped back.

"Shouldn't you be paying firstly attention to all of you children before sticking your nose into the families of others?" Poppy snapped back and both Ginny and Ron were about to jump to they mother's defence when there was a defeating rumble of thunder to be heard from above and some even thought that amongst the lightning they saw a bright golden light.

"Daddy is pretty angry." Luna said while looking back to the table.

"Which is certainly an achievement even Percy who manages to get ninety percent of every powerful being in the vicinity of fifty miles offended and ready to kill him had he never managed to get Lord Apollo ready to go after his blood." Zacharias said as he also recogrinaised that golden light as the angry Sun God who probably got restrained from marching down here.

"Continue toad, the show is over." Rodolphus said before leaning over to Lucius and Severus. "Who wants to bet which god or goddess will march down here thanks to the weasel?" he asked them.

_**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night.**_

The Greek demigods beamed at the mention of they favourite game.

_**Do you have your own sword and shield?"**_

_**"My own—?"**_

_**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**_

_**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, **_

"Ours." Pansy said as she watched her uncle and cousins discussing something by the head table.

_**but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**_

Some people snickered at this.

_**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**_

"The best place in camp." Pansy said grinning as the others looked at her strangely before remembering who her father was.

_**Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**_

_**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**_

Many students and adults blinked at his in confusion.

_**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**_

"Will come us in the next chapter." Hannah said giggling, she was sure that there was no demigod at camp who hadn't asked that question already.

_**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**_

_**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**_

_**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them,**_

"Technically speaking there are now thirty two cabins and more are being built if we get a new camper whose parent till now has no cabin." Theo added in feeling glad that the problem had been corrected.

_**nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**_

_**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**_

"That one belongs to the children of Hephaestus, God of fire, metalworking, and crafts, patron of smiths." Lavender explained to those who didn't know.

_**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**_

"That is my cabin." Hannah said smiling broadly as some people looked at her with raised eyebrows, a roof made of grass?

_**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold,**_

"WHAT!" yelled many people, a cabin made of solid gold?

"Our father and his antics." Poppy said while shaking her head as everyone stared at her in utter shock.

_**which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**_

"Of course the only ones who don't get nearly blinded by that thing, mostly when the sun is high in the sky happen to be his children. Someone should have told Chiron a long time ago to just pose the new arrivals in front of the cabin, if they have no problem looking at it then it is clear who the father is." Rodolphus said who had once lost a bet and was made to look at it for five minutes…let's just say, hid father had given him a good scolding after having dragged his brother from Olymphos to fix his eyes.

"It is not our fault that he made a golden cabin because it would reflect the sun the best." Poppy answered back while the shocked gazes started going away, but a few jealous ones stayed.

"Interesting family you have there Drake." Blaize whispered to Draco who still found all of this kind of hard to take in.

_**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**_

_**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**_

"Lady/Aunt Hestia." the demigods said with fond smiles on they lips.

"Huh?" come the question from most of the Hall while they Hestia looked curious, she always wanted to know from where her name had come from.

"The Goddess Hestia, the oldest of the six children of Kronos. Virgin Goddess of the hearth, home and chastity, she tends all hearts around the world, never letting the fire go out." Lucius explained.

"That was a goddess?" asked someone from the Ravenclaw table.

"The Gods can look as the want and most of them prefer to take up the form of teenagers except Aunt Hestia, she takes most of the time the form of a little girl because the younger a person the more innocent they usually are." Rodolphus added in, he loved his aunt, she was one of the more decent members of the divine side of they family.

_**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums,**_

Cue thunder rumbling.

"I don't care about number one, but number two you are talking about Percy is the cabin of my mother and it is perfectly fine." Lucius snapped while his family looked amused, Draco, Narcissa and Andromeda leaned meanwhile closer to hear about the second cabin.

_**big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**_

_**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**_

"Seeing how they are her sacred animals." Lucius said proudly as Arthur and Kingsley winched remembering when they investigated Lucius's manor and the birds seemed to give them those cold and stern gazes.

_**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**_

_**"Correct," Chiron said.**_

_**"Their cabins look empty."**_

_**Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**_

"True, I and also Draco would only spend time there when we visit Camp Half-Blood, our camp has a different setup as you will see." Lucius said nodding while Draco tried to get used to the thought that he will only be staying here for the duration of seven books. He was not sure how to feel, even the thought that he will be with his parents, his godfather, uncle Rodolphus who he remembered to not be all that bad when his aunt was not near, Pansy and Theo didn't help to much to ease his jumbled thoughts.

_**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**_

"You could say it like that." Dean said in a thoughtful tone.

_**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**_

_**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**_

_**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor.**_

"Seeing who that cabin belongs to it probably was." Minerva said in an amused tone.

_**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**_

_**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down.**_

_**But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there.**_

_**The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**_

_**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**_

Many gazes went to the demigods who just shrugged, they could hardly stop they parents for making more kids now could they.

_**Number five was bright red—**_

Suddenly Pansy sat us straighter in her seat.

"That is her cabin." Theo whispered to Draco and Blaize who nodded they heads in understanding.

_**a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.**_

"Hey, it was fun to get done." Pansy snapped making some first years jump at her tone.

_**The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.**_

Some people shuddered at this and were looking at the grinning Slytherin warily.

"Those people are crazy." Ron whispered to his friends still feeling somewhat jealous after the comment of there being a whole cabin made out of pure gold.

"Good that they don't know about the landmines they now have in front of it." Dean whispered to Lavender who nodded her head.

_**Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys,**_

Pansy huffed at this, they were not mean looking, but she knew that it took Percy some time to get used to them and now were he and Risse frenemies.

_**arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen.**_

"Thirteen." Pansy said while people were still staring at her uneasily.

_**She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit,**_

"Not true." she growled.

_**though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**_

_**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**_

_**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, **_

Umbridge nodded in agreement, but seeing the glares she got went she back to reading.

"Well, the centaurs here are only confusing if you listen to them for to long, but the Party Ponies are great." Dean said grinning.

"Excuse me, Party Ponies?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"They will be both in the second and fifth book." Lavender told them.

_**I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**_

There were many raised eyebrows at that statement.

"Centaurs on major sporting events?" Sirius asked dumbfoultedly, but no one answered him.

_**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**_

_**He smiled down at me. "The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**_

_**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**_

"The tact of our family." Severus said as he shook his head.

_**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about should be. The truth is, I can't be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me.**_

The demigods nodded grinning while some people, even at the head table shuddered from the thought to be teachers for all eternity.

_**I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**_

_**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**_

"I agree, I love being a teacher, but that would be to much." Madam Hooch whispered to Sprout who nodded.

_**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**_

_**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**_

_**"Why depressing?"**_

_**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**_

_**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**_

The demigods snickered at this.

_**The blonde girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**_

_**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**_

Cue more snickers.

_**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.**_

_**There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**_

_**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**_

_**"Yes, sir."**_

_**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**_

_**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old.**_

"It is not that bad, mostly now that we have repainted it after the problem with the overcrowding was solved." Dean said as he looked over at his brother who nodded.

_**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**_

"A caduceus." come it dutifully from the Sons of Hermes.

_**A caduceus.**_

_**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**_

"Again, thank you Percy for solving that problem." Dena said in relief.

"Why is it so crowded?" Parvati asked frowning.

"Our dad as said is also the patron of all those who use the road, that can be understood literally or figuratively those who come to camp and had not been claimed are in a way travelling on a road to find out who they are. This is why all those kids were brought to our cabin, but there was also the problem that some of those ancient laws which and now being bent didn't allow minor gods and goddesses to claim they children and as you see only the twelve Olympians had cabins. Percy made sure that these laws get bent and others also get cabins and claim they children, also those who are not claimed, nowadays it is max a week, get placed into the Hestia cabin." Dean explained before turning back to the head table where Umbridge started reading again.

_**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**_

_**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**_

_**He galloped away toward the archery range.**_

_**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**_

_**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**_

_**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**_

Everyone laughed at the last comment.

_**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**_

_**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**_

_**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**_

"I think that was you Zach." Dean called over to his blushing brother who had also realized that he had asked Percy that when he got there.

_**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**_

_**Everybody groaned.**_

"So glad that this is now in the past." the two children of Hermes said in union.

"It is kind of scary, but I'm starting to see the resemblance between Dean and Smith." Seamus whispered to the others who all nodded, they had noted the same thing, well except Ron.

_**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**_

Everyone felt the darkening of the atmosphere and it was not that hard to see the conflicted looks on the faces of the demigods.

"Lavender?" Parvati asked her best friend who looked stuck between crying and hitting someone.

"Sorry, but this person…we still had not real time to come to terms with the things he had done, some more then others." Lavender said as she looked over worriedly at Dean who was keeping his gaze fixated on the table.

_**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**_

_**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. **_

Some of the girls looked dreamy eyed, but those sitting closer to the demigods saw they dark expressions which made them feel uncomfortable.

_**He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**_

_**"This is Luke," She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."**_

"I like Travis and Connor more." Dean mumbled, but Lavender heard him and gave him a small hug, by the Hufflepuff table was Hannah doing the same.

_**"For now?" I asked.**_

_**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**_

_**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**_

Cue wary looks towards the now grinning brothers; they found the reactions funny, mostly now that everyone was feeling the pockets like mad.

_**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**_

_**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**_

_**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**_

_**"How long will that take?"**_

_**The campers all laughed.**_

_**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**_

_**"I've already seen it."**_

_**"Come on." **_

"And so starts a lovely pattern." Lavender said sighing, it did good that she didn't need to hide her romantic nature anymore.

_**She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**_

_**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**_

_**"What?"**_

_**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**_

"From what I have heard is that boy certainly the one." Rodolphus grinned in amusement even he could see that there had been a spark and till now had he only listened to the book and not met the duo.

"You can say that again." Sybill said while shaking her head in amusement, those two had nearly drown the whole Aphrodite cabin to madness with they obliviousness.

_**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**_

_**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**_

"She was certainly desperate for a quest." Minerva said in a stunned tone as she looked over at her brother.

"You have no idea, but I think with Percy had she got more then enough of those to last for a life time." Theo answered back.

_**"To get killed?"**_

_**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**_

"I think her mother's other spectre of main power took over by that sentence." Pansy said blinking, really Athena children were said to be intelligent, but this was more something her and her siblings would say.

_**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**_

Nods from the demigods and the Black family members.

_**"Yes."**_

_**"Then there's only one."**_

Again nods.

**"**_**Yes."**_

_**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**_

"That is not a word." come it from the Ravenclaw table and Hermione.

_**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**_

"Why do I not like that sentence?" Charlie asked his brother.

"Because it doesn't mean anything good." Answered Bill still stuck between trying to decide what to do with they Percy and to keep an eye on his mother, he had no doubt that if she continues one of the gods would do something bad, he had heard enough things about how easily they can be offended.

_**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**_

_**"They don't have souls, like you and me. **_

Somehow made this sentence everyone's blood turn cold as they gazed at the demigods who were avoiding they gazes.

_**You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche-types. Eventually, they re-form."**_

Harry and his friends looked at this worriedly at the ground, hoping that the basilisk would not be returning to life.

_**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**_

There were some snorts at this.

_**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher.**_

Cue more snorts.

_**That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**_

"That is an understatement if I heard one." Severus whispered to Lucius who looked amused.

_**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**_

_**"You talk in your sleep."**_

_**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**_

Every head snapped in the direction of the Potion Master who looked back at them smirking.

"They are the ones working as my father's messenger's and if one is really unlucky they get them as they caretakers on the Fields of Punishment." Severus explained to the pale student body.

"I'm really worried about how James fares over there." Sirius whispered to Remus.

"You are not the only one." he whispered back to Sirius.

_**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**_

No one dared to ask if that was possible.

_**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**_

_**"Look, is there anything we can say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**_

_**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**_

_**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**_

"He really should have seen the video, it has all the basic infos." Theo said while shaking his head, or at least could have Chiron told his sister that Percy needed the full explaining, she was doing here a not so positive first impression.

_**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said."She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**_

_**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**_

_**"He's dead. I never knew him."**_

_**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**_

The demigods nodded in agreement, she certainly had.

_**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**_

_**"How can you say that? You know him?"**_

_**"No, of course not."**_

_**"Then how can you say—"**_

_**"Because I know wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**_

_**"You don't know anything about me."**_

_**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**_

_**"How—"**_

_**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**_

Again turned everyone back to the demigods, they eyes wide with realization, but before anyone could ask Umbridge continued because of the glare she got from Rodolphus.

_**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**_

_**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.**_

"While in the case of Roman demigods is it Latin." Minerva supplied making her once school mates now colleagues scowl as they remembered how easily the Transfiguration Mistress had picked up on the spells.

_**And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**_

All demigods nodded while the others were staring at them gapping.

"I see, you are constantly alert that is a good thing." Moody said nodding, these demigods were really impressive and as it seems good fighters, they reflexes constantly alert and ready for battle.

_**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**_

_**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**_

Sirius groaned, yes he knew what those were alright.

_**"Ambrosia and nectar."**_

_**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. **_

_**It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**_

Everyone who before this sentence wanted to try those out looked horrified at the book, they will leave that experience out.

"I agree on the liquid combustion." Neville said, his face ashen.

_**A half-blood.**_

_**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**_

_**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**_

_**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin**_

"It is not ugly." Pansy defended and no one dared to comment otherwise, not even the other demigods seeing that she still had her wand and spear.

_**was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly**_

"Don't call my sisters ugly." Pansy said before someone could make a comparison to Crabbe and Goile.

"Sisters?" Colin asked, but covered from the glare he got.

_**and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**_

_**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**_

_**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**_

_**''Erre es korakas!"Annabeth said, **_

"Annabeth Chase, don't use such language!" Minerva snapped at her sister's book self, she will have some words with that girl when she sees her again, the others only looked confused about the comment.

_**which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.**_

"It is." huffed Minerva.

_**"You don't stand a chance."**_

_**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat.**_

"The outcome of the games does not only depend on who are the team leaders, but also on with whom you have allied yourself with." Theo said confusing everyone, but he waved they questioning gazes away.

_**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**_

_**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**_

_**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**_

"Ugh…Perce, and you wonder why Risse gets so easily annoyed with you?" Pansy asked while massaging her forehead while others still were busy trying to compare her to the girl who was her sister, till now with not much luck.

_**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**_

_**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**_

"Excuse me!" Pansy yelled, her eyes blazing, she will certainly have a chat with Percy for this comment, she had been at that time the youngest member of they cabin and was not told why her sister wanted to take Percy apart, beside the upcoming incident, on next Friday.

"The guy had guts." Seamus whispered as he imagined someone saying this to four female Crabbes or Goiles, Neville shuddered as he remembered his first year when he went against the two of them and ended up knocked out in the Medical Wing.

_**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**_

"And so starts her nickname for him." Dean said, he was still trying to figure out what his brother saw in Clarisse, but he was kind of fine with it since the shock had died down and he certainly could appreciate it that Chris could calm her down before she maims one.

_**"Percy."**_

_**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**_

_**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**_

_**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**_

"Huh, I didn't know that Percy got his nickname for Annabeth from Risse." Pansy said in a stunned tone, most of her fellow demigods had similar expressions on they faces.

_**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**_

_**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**_

_**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. **_

Pansy nodded proudly, her sister was one of her strongest siblings.

_**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**_

"Actually, we have better bathrooms, but those seem to always appear out of nowhere when a new camper comes." replied Hannah frowning while Rodolphus got Umbridge to continue before someone could comment.

_**Clarisse's friends **_

"Sisters." Pansy corrected automatically.

_**were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**_

_**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**_

_**Her friends snickered.**_

_**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**_

_**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. **_

_**I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**_

_**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.**_

Pansy looked annoyed while the others on the other had started looking amused, they knew what was comming.

_**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**_

_**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**_

_**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**_

_**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**_

_**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**_

After getting over they initial surprise broke a good deal of the hall out laughing at the situation while others wrinkled they noses in disgust.

_**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**_

"Technically she got the shower water." Theo said as he remembered his sister stalking into they cabin looking like someone who had fallen into the lake.

_**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**_

_**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**_

This stopped the laughter and replaced it with stunned silence.

_**I stood up, my legs shaky.**_

_**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**_

_**"I don't know."**_

_**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. **_

_**She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**_

"Luckily had they become sooner frenemies before she could follow through with her threat." Dean said.

"Frenemies?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"They are both friends and enemies at the same time." Lavender explained, but didn't elaborate.

_**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**_

"That certainly reminds me on someone." Remus mumbled as he looked over at Sirius, he also could not keep shut.

_**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**_

"It was brilliant to see Clarisse bested by a newbie." Zacharias said grinning.

"What was that Smith?" Pansy asked testily.

"Nothing." he replied hurriedly.

_**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**_

"Probably both." Hannah said.

_"__**What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**_

_**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**_

"This was the end of the chapter." said Umbridge carefully before Poppy took the book from her.

"I will have the next chapter." she said and turned to the next page.

_To be continued…_


	8. You were warned

A/N: so here is one more new chapter and I just realized that I certainly love writing Rodolphus, he is fun working with.

* * *

VII. You were warned

Looking down at the title Poppy allowed herself a small smile, it seemed that this was the chapter when Percy was for the first time faced with another tradition of they world. It had been bothersome to say at least to keep it up, but they had all found a way without being suspicious. They simply made they food sacrifices before heading to the Great Hall for meals after debating the problem with they parents through prayers.

"The next chapter is titled _**My Dinner Goes up in Smoke.**_" she read noting the smiles on the lips of her family and the confusion on the faces of the others well except Mr. Weasley who sat by his sister at he Gryffindor table, he looked mortified.

"Uh…that is not exactly a good thing." commented Fred remembering how they mother would always mutter in annoyance if the food she makes gets burned.

"In our case is it actually an important thing." Sybill said while Andromeda, Narcissa and Sirius looked together in realization, only one word going through they heads '_sacrifice'._

"If I may now continue, the chapter will explain everything." Poppy said and not waiting for an answer started continuing.

_**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.**_

"Well, with the Hermes and Aphrodite cabin is it no wonder." Pansy said still annoyed from the reminder while Theo waved to both Draco and Blaize that she will eventually come by.

"Not that in this school would things be different." Dean whispered to Lavender who nodded in agreement, this part was what reminded her of home.

_**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. **_

The Weasley twins couldn't help themselves any other way then to snicker in amusement, this sounded like such a great prank idea.

_**Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**_

"I still can't believe that she didn't come back to our cabin and changed into something dry." Theo said as he shook his head at his sister.

_**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords),**_

Again the wizards stared strangely at the demigods who ignored them, they didn't see what they problem was.

_**the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),**_

"I think your satyr friend, my father and Lord Hermes would have been offended that you called Pan a goat-man." Rodolphus said shaking his head as he tried not thinking about how his father took the news of not only one of his children being dead, but that his best friend was also gone.

"Huh?" someone asked.

"That statue which was made there represents Pan, also called Lord of the Wild, God of shepherds, pastures, and fertility. He was the first child of Lord Hermes and best friend to my father Dionysus." Rodolphus explained while people were staring open mouthed at Dean and Zacharias.

"You have a brother who part goat?" Ron blurted out looking slightly green at the idea of one of his older siblings being a barnyard animal from the waist down.

"I don't see what the problem is." Dean answered back with narrowed eyes, he may have never met Pan, but he was their brother who faded due to humanity, his loss had also greatly pained his father.

"He agrees." Harry said quickly as he covered Ron's mouth before he could answer.

_**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**_

Dead silence and horrified glances at the description as the demigods nodded with different expressions on they faces, it all depended on the liking of the wall.

_**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**_

_**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**_

_**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**_

_**"Whatever."**_

_**"It wasn't my fault."**_

Everyone raised and eyebrow at this looking sceptically at the book, the shock was slowly dying down.

_**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it was my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**_

At this broke a good number of people out laughing.

_**You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**_

Those who were still sceptical about the whole divination thing wrinkled they noses.

_**"Who?"**_

_**"Not who. What.**_

"Huh?" come the question from everyone, but Poppy continued as she tried not to shudder at the memory of what had become out of her father's Oracle till recently.

_**The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**_

_**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**_

"I'm with you there." Harry said as by the staff table Severus glared at a fidgeting Dumbledore.

_**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.**_

"Some type of merpeople?" Cho asked as she remembered last year the second task of the tournament, but this also lead to painful memories about that fact that Cedric was go… then she remembered that there really was an Other-side and just maybe…

"Not exactly the are nature spirits." Poppy said while throwing a glance at Severus, it was really good that Lady Hecate had listened to the prayers, the poor guy will have a good deal of people after him who want to bring back the dead.

_**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**_

"Technically, to them he is." Hannah pointed out while people around her were still trying to wrap they minds around the fact that nature spirits, in other words mystical creatures could look like normal people.

_**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**_

_**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**_

_**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**_

"Ok, he had faced even at the beginning so much and that is what breaks him?" Blaize asked incredulously, that guy was mental, but he will not say that out loud in the presence of people who could beside using a wand also go after him with a sword or anything they pick up as weapon.

"Percy is kind of for even our standards a bit unusual, but that may come from his being a child of the sea which is also unpredictable." Theo explained with a shrug, one gets used to it.

_**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**_

"That is true for our Greek siblings, at that time had they generation no clue about us." Lucius said before looking over at the students "One could say that there were some conflicts in the past whenever the two groups meet up which ended with the Gods making the two activity directors Chiron and Lupa swear an oath to keep the children separated well that went well till the Second Great Prophecy."

"Uh…what happened in the past?" inquired Charity from the blonde, she was still feeling stunned that the cold aristocrat could act like a normal carefree person and not a blood supremacist.

"Three words: American Civil War." Lucius said to the paling woman whose expression was mirrored by the muggleborns and those half-bloods who grew up in the muggle world, the others took form that and that the word 'war' was part of those words that it was bad.

_**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**_

"One could kind of call us that." Dean mused as the others stared at him.

_**"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**_

_**"Half-human and half-what?"**_

_**"I think you know."**_

_**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**_

_**"God," I said. "Half-god."**_

_**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**_

_**"That's ... crazy."**_

"After a while one gets used to the thought." Poppy said interrupting herself, when she was told this had she outright laughed at the idea of her father being a God.

_**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them.**_

The demigods avoided everyones' gazes and Poppy continued, but not before flashing a glare at Molly Weasley who wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"That and punished people for the slightest offence." Hermione whispered to her friends.

_**Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**_

"Never." the demigods sang.

_**"But those are just—" I almost said myths again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, I might be considered a myth.**_

"Sooner then he would have liked." Zacharias snickered.

_**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**_

_**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**_

_**"Then who's your dad?"**_

"Wrong thing to say Perce, but I understand that there are more stories about the male gods and their affairs then of the females." Theo said when Hermione suddenly looked up and stared at both him and his sister.

"I just remembered that Athena was also a Virgin Goddess so how come that…" she couldn't finish as suddenly both Theo and Minerva started laughing while Lucius, Severus and Rodolphus shuddered.

"I think it will probably stand in either the second or fourth book that our sister Annabeth will explain how our mother can have children, but still keep her status as a Virgin Goddess." Minerva told the girl as she looked over in amusement at the still shuddering trio, well they were the ones who wanted to know, she only told them. "Continue Poppy."

"With pleasure." the Mediwitch replied in amusement.

_**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**_

_**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**_

_**"He's human."**_

_**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**_

"I stand by my above made statement." Theo said while Pansy rolled her eyes, Athena kids and they brain-modes.

_**"Who's your mom, then?"**_

_**"Cabin six."**_

_**"Meaning?"**_

_**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**_

"Her two main spectres of power, the other titles are additional." Minerva explained to the confused wizards and witches.

_**Okay, I thought. Why not?**_

_**"And my dad?"**_

_**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**_

_**"Except my mother. She knew."**_

_**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**_

"Not many would believe, others would want them to solve all they problems and give them anything they want so they only rarely tell and mostly to those who can see through the mist." Sybill explained while most nodded in understanding, the second ground was the same why the Statue of Secrecy existed.

_**"My dad would have. He loved her."**_

_**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**_

Poppy let out a sigh as she looked over at the upcoming lines, this will be not fun to read, but at least could she brighten herself with the thought that this was not he case anymore.

_**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**_

_**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**_

Poppy hurried on reading so that no one could comment.

_**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**_

Poppy was glad for her training for it teached you how to control your breathing so she didn't need to stop even to take a breath as she hurried on.

_**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better."**_

Finally she took a breath when Hannah spoke up, unnerved by the pitying gazes they were getting.

"The rules are being changed and as we said things are better now." she said, but the Weasley matriarch was not going to leave things like that, but the only thing leaving her mouth was a small shriek.

"Mum!" her children beside her third eldest, he only looked over at the Mediwitch who nodded, yelled as her husband and went to help her up from the ground.

Looking what happened noted everyone with both fear and stunning the arrow which seemed to be made out of pure light buried in the table only inches in front of the place where Molly Weasley sat. It glistered for a short while before it dissolved, leaving behind a small hole in the tick wood.

"Rodolphus had told you to be more careful, believe me father never missed his targets and that was one of his light arrows, they are not only sharp, but are made from actual sunrays, the don't only pierce, but also burn." Poppy said to the glaring redhead making everyone notice that truly the wood where the arrow had been looked scorched and a small trail of some could be noticed coming from it.

_**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**_

_**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force.**_

"HEY!" yelled both Lavender and Hannah offended about that accusation before hitting Dean and Zacharias over the head who started snickering at they reaction.

_**the monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old,**_

"Ugh…I prefer being a witch then." Tonks said shuddering at the thought of monsters starting to hunt her at such a young age, the others agreed with her.

"Yes, most would prefer something else to happen when they reach that age then a constant fight for survival." Lucius told his niece before he looked over at Andromeda who gave him a small smile.

_**but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off.**_

There was a good number of flinches as they remembered that the first test was reaching that camp alive.

_**A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them.**_

The demigods laughed at this in amusement.

"Could you tell us a few names?" asked Aurora Sinistra as she looked over at the adult demigods.

"Some will be mentioned in these books." Minerva said, but her eyes lit up mischievously while looking over at her friends.

"Though it can't hurt to point out that the Founders themselves were demigods." Sybill said as gasps filled the Great Hall. "It is true if you want the Sorting Hat can confirm that to you later on, Godric Gryffindor himself had been a Son of Ares." Pansy nodded as the griffins dropped they jaws before looking pale as they remembered the things Ares represented, but now understood the whole rushing into battle aspect better.

"Helga Hufflepuff was a child of my mother Demeter." Hannah said with a small smile and Sprout nodded her head, it had been written in many history books that Hufflepuff had loved plants of all sorts and had a good hand for them, she had also installed the green houses. Now those things really seemed to make sense.

"Rowena Ravenclaw was of course a child of Athena." Theo said making the ravens straighten up in pride.

"Let us guess Salazar Slytherin was a child of Hades." Harry said and it took all of his willpower to not cover by the looks he recieved from the demigods and the rumbling thunder made it even harder.

"Daddy is still angry so don't say such things Harry." Luna said calmly as she looked up at the sky with a soft smile on her lips. "It is alright daddy, he didn't want to be mean." she said and a softer thundering could be heard. "Salazar had been one of our brothers." many people only stared in panic or shock towards the three daughters of Apollo.

"Oh the irony." Sirius whispered to Remus who nodded, who knew that the Dark Lord had been a descendant of a man whose father was the God of the Sun.

"About other people you will read further as they get mentioned." Poppy said like someone whose sister had not just now revealed that the Founder of Slytherin House had been their brother.

_**Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**_

_**"So monsters can't get in here?"**_

_**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**_

_**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**_

_**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**_

_**"Practical jokes?"**_

"Not since a certain someone wanted to do a murder that way and before that were those jokes harmless, little things which were no actual danger." Zacharias said bitterly.

_**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**_

_**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**_

_**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors.**_

The present demigods from Camp Half-Blood did the same, looking proudly at they colourful beads as if they would be the most precious things in the world and for them they were just that.

_**It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**_

_**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year.**_

Parvati choked back a yelp as she stared at the necklace Lavender was looking at fondly, she remembered how much she seemed to love it and she had always wanted to know the ground, but now looking at the necklace she kind of felt sick in the stomach. She had never imagined that a simple jewellery one could make so easily would fill her with dread, dread because it represented the life of another person. Many other students and the adults felt the same way looking at them.

"I don't remember something like that by you Lucius nor by Severus." Narcissa spoke up as she looked at the two men who smiled at her curiosity.

"Because we don't have that." Minerva spoke up on their behalf and pulled up the sleeve of her teaching robes revealing a black SPQR tattoo with an olive tree in the middle of the 'Q' letter and a number of stripes on her skin. "This is our way to mark each year we have survived, the symbol of our godly parent is usually placed in the middle while the words are a shortening of Senatus Populusque Romanus meaning _'The Senate and the People of Rome'_ ." she finished explaining and rolled her sleeve down again. "Poppy continue."

_**I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**_

_**"Why did you come so young?"**_

_**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**_

_**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**_

_**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**_

_**"Unless?"**_

_**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**_

_**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**_

"No, it didn't." Lavender said softly.

_**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**_

_**"Ambrosia."**_

_**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**_

_**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?"**_

_**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**_

_**She clenched her fists.**_

_**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."**_

_**"You've been to Olympus?"**_

Everyone was again intentionally paying attention to the book again, well except Molly Weasley who was still pale because of nearly being shoot by an arrow and Umbridge who had fainted when it hit the table and no one noticed or cared, even Fudge was to busy with thinking about how to avoid offending the gods. Maybe some medals?

_**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke**_

Some noted how the demigods looked conflicted again.

_**and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**_

"Didn't you say something about family meetings in winter?" Deadelus piped up suddenly from his spot beside Hestia.

"Yes, the third book will even have a chapter about such a meeting, usually after the council there is a feast and we can spend some time with our parents." Sybill said, she liked those times.

_**"But... how did you get there?"**_

_**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**_

The muggleborns and those half-bloods who grew up in the muggle world gapped at the book while he purebloods and those growing up in the wizarding world looked confused.

"New York is actually two faced it all depends on which side you walk Manhattan or Brooklyn." Theo said shrugging, they were pretty surprised when it come out and they parents decided to clear them up.

"What do you mean?" Padma called over from her spot by the Ravenclaw table when Luna spoke up.

"There is always some truth behind each myth." she said dreamily as she looked over at the Indian girl. "Manhattan is where the home of our parents is making it and some parts of the United States ruled under the juridicism of the Greco-Roman Gods, but there are others Brooklyn is where the descendants of ancient rulers of the Desert Kingdom of Mysteries dwell as also in some other cities." Luna finished as her blue eyes fell on Bill Weasley whose jaw hit the table after he remembered where he had heard that term before.

"You mean that the Egyptian Gods are also real?" he asked in a tight voice.

"Of course they are, immortal means immortal, most Gods mentioned in myths exist or have existed." Pansy said flippantly as a new wave of shock went through the hall.

"What do you mean by have." Percy Weasley spoke up suddenly, he felt somewhat confused by the fact that she was talking about some ancient beings in the past tense.

"Sometimes, when people stop believing, or if they destroy that what is strongly bound to a certain god, they will fade. Fading is the way an immortal being dies, they stop existing." Hannah answered in a sad tone as Poppy continued with reading before someone could say something else.

_**"You are a New Yorker, right?"**_

_**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**_

_**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. **_

All eyes turned to Pansy and Theo who were calmly sitting beside each other.

"Oh please, that is only because they are both War Gods, a balance dad is the chaotic side of war while Theo's mother is the logical, strategic side of it." Pansy explained for her friend, they parents could get along, they only needed to be on the same side in battle, then they made a dangerous team and usually managed to ensure that they side wins.

_**And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**_

All demigods snorted at this.

"Isn't that boy…" Sirius started.

"This is the ground why it is both amusing and ironic." Poppy said before returning to the book, there was not much left from the chapter.

_**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together.**_

Again the demigods looked amused, those two certainly worked together in more ways then one.

_**I thought you might know something." I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**_

Most boys nodded at this while the girls rolled they eyes.

_**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**_

_**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**_

Both Theo and Minerva tried to ignore they snickering friends, they could not help it when they were faced with a task.

_**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.**_

Seamus was now frowning as he looked over at Dean, he could certainly see those features on his friend's face.

"Those are my siblings." he replied when noticing the look he was getting.

"How many siblings do you have?" Seamus asked, he knew about his sisters, but not from others.

"From my dad's side? My sisters are actually only my half-sisters, but I still love them." Dean informed him before looking thoughtful. "I would say if since the school year started no one new arrived do I have with Zach here fourteen sisters and twenty-two brothers both older and younger by both genders." he answered finally to the spluttering table who were starring at him with bewildered eyes.

"I think seven brothers are just fine." Ginny said in a faint tone, Ron was still starring with his moth agape.

"I don't mind." Dean replied with a shrug.

_**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers.**_

"Tanks for the compliment Perce." Dena and Zacharias said together showing they grins which made all of they mortal teachers shudder.

_**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**_

_**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**_

And the conflicted looks were back making some people suspicious that something was not right about the councillor.

_**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**_

_**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**_

"Probably not." the demigods said at the same time making everyone check they pockets again.

_**I said, "Thanks."**_

_**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**_

_**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**_

_**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**_

The demigods nodded in agreement.

_**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**_

_**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**_

_**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, **_

"He has good instincts." Rodolphus mumbled under his breath his eyes narrowing.

_**but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**_

_**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**_

"That's a new way to describe dad." Dean said with a small smile, leave it to Percy to lift your spirits when you start feeling down.

_**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**_

And leave it to Luke to bring it back down, both Dean and Zacharias were still stunned that they never noticed they older brother's darker side.

_**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**_

The demigods snorted at this, they were sure that at that time Luke certainly meant to call him just that.

"_**You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**_

_**"Once."**_

_**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**_

"Never!" yelled both Dean and Zacharias, they dad would never be like that.

"It had another cause." Hannah said as she tried to calm her cousin down.

_**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**_

"Percy says this with more belief and not with hollowness." Luna said sadly.

"That is still nice to say, just like your House becoming like your family." Angelina said.

"Not exactly Mss Johnson, you see if we demigods take our family line into account are we all from the godly side related, the books will elaborate, but all gods are related to one another, some even in more then one way." Poppy spoke up as she looked at the girl.

"Let me help out Poppy by a simple explaining, my stepmother Persephone who is the Goddess of Spring and Queen of the Underworld is the daughter of Zeus who had fathered her with his sister Demeter and she is married to my father who is the older brother of both Zeus and Demeter, so technically her uncle. This also makes me kind of both a cousin and step-nephew to Mss Abbott on the Roman side and these are some of the simple lines." Severus said to the gapping wizards noting how some of them looked even green in the face. "Poppy."

"And some thought pureblood families mental." Charlie whispered to Bill while keeping one eye on the sky, not wanting to be either hit by lightning or an arrow.

_**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**_

"And he will also do the worst for him." Hannah mumbled sadly, she could not believe that Luke had hurt them all so much.

_**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**_

_**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**_

"Our father doesn't like them either so no surprise that people would hate them." Sybill said while everyone stared at her.

"But isn't he the God of Prophecies?" Sinistra asked the Divination professor.

"Yes, he is able to see things happening in the future, but prophecies can't be stopped eventually they will come true. Father hates them because no matter how terrible or painful things he sees, he can't do anything to stop them from happening, to help." Sybill said sadly which made everyone quiet down, putting it like that it really sounded like a terrible fate to have for all eternity.

_**"What do you mean?"**_

_**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, **_

"And now you get the idea from where his scar is from." Pansy said while everyone nodded.

_**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**_

"A certainly special person." Lavender said smiling, she loved love stories with a happy end.

_**"Somebody special?"**_

_**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**_

_**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**_

_**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**_

_**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**_

"The cabin of our father's twin sister the third Virgin Goddess, Lady Artemis Goddess of the hunt, wilderness, animals, young girls, moon, childbirth and plague, the last aspect being similar as by her brother. Our father and aunt are also called the Twin Archers." Poppy said before going back to reading.

_**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**_

_**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**_

The students and teachers were still busy blinking to comment while the demigods looked sad, some of those people were now in Elysium.

_**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple.**_

_**Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**_

_**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys **_

"Did he just call my younger brothers plump?" Rodolphus asked perplexed while everyone snapped they heads into his direction.

"Well, compared to Dakota is Pollux kind of plump looking and Castor to." some people noted the hurried way Dean added in the second name as did the small sadness when mentioned.

"Dakota?" Ted Tonks asked his brother or soon ex-brother-in-law.

"My other younger half-brother in Camp Jupiter." Rodolphus replied back.

_**who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**_

"He really should say something to Leo and his siblings, they would have a solution ready in a matter of hours." Theo said while shaking his head at they teacher, it helped ignoring the memory that Castor was dead, but at least will Pollux be a bit happier that he has another brother back, it had helped Nico pretty much to have Hazel so it will be fine.

_**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**_

"I was on that day in the infirmary, had a small accident during archery class and Lee had been adamant that I stay for the night." Theo said while trying to keep the sadness from his voice as he remembered the other.

"I remember, you two argued about that for a whole hour." Luna said softly, she had been helping out that day in the infirmary, it was nothing new, Lee didn't mind having his younger siblings trailing behind him and allowing them to help by small tasks. She missed her big brother dearly, and Michael with his ability to always say something which made you laugh, her other siblings she lost during the two wars, but now was Will the one taking care of them all.

"Typical Lee." Poppy said forcing away the sad smile which threatened to appear on her lips as Minerva signalled to the Weasley twins that they were not talking about Lee Jordan, meanwhile had Rodolphus grabbed Sybill's hand under the table as he remembered that the boy died on the same day his own little brother had.

_**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**_

Pansy glared along her table, daring anyone to comment, but no one did luckily or the Apollo demigods would be busy with healing the injured after she gets restrained.

_**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**_

_**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**_

_**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**_

Everyone looked over at the demigods who all nodded.

"That would be useful if our goblets would do the same and not only refill themselves." someone by the Gryffindor table said wistfully.

_**said, "Cherry Coke."**_

_**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**_

_**Then I had an idea. "Blue Cherry Coke."**_

_**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**_

_**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**_

_**I drank a toast to my mother.**_

Many people smiled at this.

_**she's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**_

Mr. Diggory, Cho and Harry nodded at this making the demigods exchange uncomfortable glances with each other.

_**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**_

_**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**_

_**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**_

_**"Come on," Luke told me.**_

_**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**_

_**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**_

Ron looked at hearing this the same way when he had met Aragog in Harry's option.

"How come you don't do that by meals?" Hermione asked.

"We do the offering before the meals, our parents know so is it fine if we get food from the kitchens and sacrifice it then come down here and eat." Lavender explained.

_**"You're kidding."**_

_**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**_

There were many nods at this, but the demigods only looked amused, they knew something the others didn't.

_**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**_

_**I was next.**_

_**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**_

_**Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**_

_**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**_

_**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**_

_**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did.**_

Many wizards looked stunned at this mostly because they didn't know how to explain it.

_**I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**_

_**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**_

_**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**_

Pansy straightened herself proudly at this, that had been a good game.

_**A bunch of ugly**_

And she went from grinning to growling which made everyone beside Theo pull away from her somewhat, he knew her enough to know when it was important to back of and this was not a time.

_**cheering rose from the Ares table.**_

_**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**_

"He does that on purpose?" Sirius asked because the God had used the boy's name correctly when they met in the morning.

"Father likes to annoy them, you play babysitter for one hundred years for your families kids and don't try coming up with something." Rodolphus said shrugging while Sirius shuddered at the thought mostly when he remembered that some of those are hormonal teenagers.

_**Chiron murmured something.**_

_**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**_

_**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. **_

"Of course, seeing how no one other would volunteer to start." Poppy said before continuing, they would be soon done with this chapter.

_**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**_

Harry nodded at this, not looking at the Dursleys who were still to stunned to react to anything, this was exactly how felt about Hogwarts, it was his home.

_**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**_

_**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**_

_**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**_

_**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**_

_**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**_

"This was the end of the chapter, Sybill your turn." Poppy said as she handed the book to her sister who immediately started reading.

"The next chapter is called _**We Capture a Flag." **_the demigods smiled even thought what happened on that practicular game had been anything but fun.

_**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal,…**_

_To be continued…_


	9. Who plays with weapons?

VIII. Who plays with weapons?

_**if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**_

No one had exactly a comment to that one seeing how they were getting lessons from a ghost, a half-goblin, half-giant and now as they know also three half-gods, nope they could not comment on that one.

_**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird.**_

There were a few, careful nods around the hall.

_**I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache. The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,**_

At this the demigods expressions were a mix between pity and amusement as they heard the last part of the paragraph.

"Poor Chiron." Luna said finally and this was enough to make her fellow demigods break out into hysterical laughter which lasted for a good deal of ten minutes with the wizards and witches only looking at them warily, not understanding what was so funny so Sybill decided to take pity on them and explain.

"Since the ancient times had Lord Poseidon only two sons who had been good in archery, some of you may know one of them seeing how he was made into the Orion constellation by our aunt Lady Artemis." many students along with professor Sinistra nodded. "On the other hand are Lord Poseidon and his other children terrible at archery to a degree that no one is safe near them." and to prove her point she continued reading.

_**but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.**_

"And if I remember right had Chiron stood behind him hidden by a tree and a shield he had with him." Theo said while everyone was gapping.

"How in Merlin's name could one manage to mess up a shoot like that?" Ted Tonks who himself had also done some archery in is youth asked in utter shock, even if there was wind and arrow can't trail of _that_ bad from its path.

"As said, beside two children were all of his kids just like they father walking menaces with a bow and arrow." Lucius said with a shrug.

_**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust.**_

"They do that to everyone." come it from the demigods.

_**They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods.**_

Some of the witches scowled at this while the demigods nodded they heads they were told the same.

_**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**_

"Put like that…" George started.

"…we agree with you mate." Fred finished for his brother.

_**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**_

Pansy was back on grinning again while others looked at her warily, they kind of preferred her as a snotty, pureblood, Slytherin and not a girl who loved physical fights or with weapons.

"You will get used to it, she is actually more tame then some of her siblings." Theo whispered to Draco who nodded carefully, he really was not sure how to deal with this Pansy even thought he had seen glimpses from this side of her, but never so prominently displayed.

_**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**_

_**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**_

_**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it.**_

"He managed to get them all frustrated till the game that night." Dean said snickering.

"Agreed, after that they wanted to hit themselves for not getting it sooner, I know Annabeth kept us awake with her rant till one in the morning." Theo said remembering his sister's rants before Malcolm and some of they other siblings tried to calm her, after figuring out how to get her knife away from her that is.

"Lee had also wondered why he didn't think about it after the bathroom incident and the canoeing skills." Luna said with a light shake of her head.

"Silena was the same and she was actually a good in picking up people's character." Parvati frowned slightly as she picked up the slight tremble in Lavender's voice, she figured that the girl must be her sister; she remembered that one Christmas there was a box of chocolate with that name on it. She had an uncomfortable feeling that something had happened to that girl, she could only hope that it had been nothing bad.

"Risse had been also furious." Pansy added in, when it looked as if no more comments would come started Sybill reading again.

_**I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids,**_

"That is because they have the affinity for all types of combat, physical included." Theo said while Pansy nodded in agreement.

"Though Parkinson doesn't look like much in the department of muscles." Commented Terry Boot, but then found himself suddenly lifted from the bench by the chuffs of his shirt by the angry looking girl, her eyes seemed to be blazing with fire.

"Never, ever understatement me Boot, things are not always as they seem." she growled to the pale boy who was shaking with fear.

"Miss Parkinson!" Snape and McGonagall called to the girl, they knew if they don't step in that this would not end pretty.

"I know professors, no maiming other students, mostly the mortal ones." Pansy said with a huff as she dropped Terry on the cold stone floor, dusted of her hands and started walking back to her table, but turned back one last time. "This warning goes for everyone, I'm the daughter of Chaotic War so don't irritate me if you know what it good for you or never walk alone without one of the professors."

"Hermione, remind me to not irritate her again." Ron whispered to Hermione as they watched the Ravenclaws help us a shaking Boot while Parkinson slid gracefully into her seat beside Nott who had turned to her and seemed to be scolding her while she only rolled her eyes.

"Idiotic boy." Moody said by the head table, underestimating someone may they be enemy, opponent, ally or anemone and it could end up with you killed.

_**or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**_

"Technically is no one better at archery then us if they are not our father, Lady Artemis or one of her hunters." Poppy said before she elaborated for the benefit of they audience. "The Hunters of Artemis are a group of young girls who after pledging they allegiance stop aging, cant get sick, become faster and masters in archery. They also gain immortality and can only be killed in combat" then she smirked by the looks of interest on the face of the witches around them" they only need to swear of boys for all eternity to take the pledge." and the interest melted into shock.

_**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork **_

Seeing the next line Sybill smirked in amusement, this will set Rod of again.

_**or-gods forbid-Dionysus's way with vine plants.**_

"And what does he want to imply with that again?" the redhead growled before leaning back in his chair. "Beside that would have father already claimed you the latest when the two of you met." he huffed, his father would never leave one of his kids in the dark if he is right there at camp.

_**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. **_

The sons of said God looked with annoyance at the book.

_**But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either. Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night.**_

"I'm glad that we don't hear what is in the Forbidden Forest." one of the first years said and even the older students nodded they head in agreement, mostly those who had meet some of its residents.

"The're aren that many bad things in there." Hagrid said, but even the Golden Trio were looking at him incredulously and Sybill started reading hurriedly as she saw Lucius make himself ready to retort.

_**I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.**_

_**Just that warm feeling I'd always had like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back . . .**_

The demigods bit back groans as three people nodded they heads again, Amelia was in the meantime watching Amos Diggory with sad eyes, she understood how he was feeling and that the idea was tempting, but something in her mind, a voice to much like Reg's told her that it wouldn't be right.

"We really need to talk with Harry if he continues having that look." Sirius whispered to Remus in a worried tone who nodded back at him.

_**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes.**_

"Don't think like that." Luna said softly, her tone sad.

"Agreed." both Dena and Zacharias growled which made most of those sitting close to them back away slowly.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that this Luke had done something really bad, but probably also something good because of the conflicted looks they all get when his name is mentioned." Hermione whispered to Harry.

_**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**_

"Not with your uncle watching like a hawk, no pun indented." Lucius said to the rumbling sky, but he knew that Zeus would not dare strike him for his mother would make him beg for some father-son bonding time in Tartarus.

_**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**_

_**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**_

_**The problem was,I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long, Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**_

_**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**_

_**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. **_

"That was me." Dean admitted in embarrassment.

_**"Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**_

"That boy is pretty good then." Flitwick said in a stunned tone, he had been mostly silent during the reading, but that was mostly because he liked to observe things.

_**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**_

_**The camper snorted.**_

"Sorry Perce." Dean said apologizing for something that was years ago.

_**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he's say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!**_

"Love the added sound effects." Charlie snickered before looking over to his mother, she had calmed down and was now busy glaring at Madam Pomfrey who was ignoring her. He was not sure how to deal with the situation, he loved his mum that was not even a question, but the Mediwitch had always kind of encouraged him to do what he wanted to do and don't let others influence him, if a decisions turns out to be wrong then it only helps him to learn. Also, as much as he didn't like it, he needed to admit that his mum had kind of stepped over some boarders with her comments about a situation she didn't understand, damn this was all messed up as it was and it seemed as if Bill was also lost so no chance to discus this and find the solution.

_**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea. I did the same. **_

_**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**_

"Does the water enchant his strength?" Hermione asked with narrowed ayes.

"It does, one of his inherited powers." Lavender answered.

_**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**_

_**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**_

The demigods snickered at this good naturally.

_**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles.**_

"Guilty." the brothers said with sheepish smiles on they lips.

_**I figured they'd been in my shoes before**_

"He got that right." Zacharias said as he remembered those classes against his older brother he had admired at that time, now was he not sure what to feel about him.

_**and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**_

_**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, no. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**_

_**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the word clattered out of my hand.**_

_**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**_

_**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**_

Everyone was listening to the fight just as intently as they would by a Quidditch match which certainly amused the demigods.

_**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**_

_**I tried the disarming maneuver.**_

_**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**_

_**Clang.**_

_**Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**_

There was a loud round of cheers before the students and some of the adult realized that the had just cheered for a book, the pranksters looking even mortified, which made them blush and sink down in they seats as those who did not such a thing snickered at they expressions. Dudley who had returned from his shock was also trying to ignore the looks his parents were giving him for his reaction a few seconds ago, he could not help it that it sounded cool that someone could fight with a sword, he liked using hat weapon in video games.

_**The other campers were silent.**_

_**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**_

Harry was busy avoiding Hermione's gaze who was glaring at him that she doesn't to say that he would not apologize for something he did and which was not something bad.

_**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**_

The demigods snickered at this, mostly the brothers who had seen the expression they brother had worn on his face.

_**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**_

_**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**_

_**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**_

_**After a long pause, somebody in he audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**_

Everyone turned to Dean and Zacharias making both of them blush at the attention.

"I think that had been Connor, not us." Dean said as he looked over at the table where his brother sat.

"Or Travis, one can only tell by those two if they stand together who is who." Zacharias replied back.

"Are they twins? You mentioned them also two chapters ago." Hermione said as she looked at Dean.

"They are not twins, but a year apart, but believe me they can pull of the twin thing perfectly and the only way to know who is who it the fact that Travis is an inch taller then Connor." Dean explained. "They are the camps personal Fred and George." this told Hermione everything she needed to know.

_**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe." he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword. . . "**_

The demigods smirked at this as they thought about the times they had seen Percy use Riptide in a fight.

_**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had singed off my forearms.**_

There was a good deal of flinches at this, but no one commented.

_**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**_

_**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**_

_**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**_

_**"So your career's still on track?"**_

_**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**_

_**"Well . . . no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.**_

_**"He just said you had big plans, you know . . . and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**_

_**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet,**_

Rodolphus nodded at this, he had known that his dad would not be hard on the young satyr who now bore the title of his late best friend.

"That was nice of him." Tonks said, from what they had read so far sounded the Wine God not like a kind person, but she needed to admit that there were his small moments like the card game or how he sat with his children and now that he helped the satyr.

_**so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**_

_**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**_

_**"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest . . . and even if you did, why would you want me along?"**_

"Friends always stick together." Luna said earning herself many agreeing nods.

_**"Of course I'd want you along!"**_

_**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving . . . Must be nice to have a useful skill."**_

_**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**_

_**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She voiced to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. **_

"Though she treats her hunters as her handmaidens, sisters and also daughters, they also stay in her cabin when they are near camp." Minerva explained while by the lions tried Lavender not to scowl so she only kicked Dean under the table when he tried to make an idiotic comment regards the rivalry between her cabin and the hunters.

_**The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**_

_**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**_

"No." the demigods said together while shaking they heads.

_**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's." he said.**_

_"__**That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**_

All eyes slowly travelled to Lucius while Sirius tried to push away his bitter feelings of guilt regards his little brother.

"I think that I have pointed it out, everyone can blame my stepfather for my existence." Lucius said smirking as the people in the hall looked up at the sky fearfully before shaking they heads hurriedly that they don't want to say a word. "Though so, Sybill continue we are if I guess right nearing again a kind of touchy subject." he said.

_**That's her husband's job.**_

Annoyed thunder rumbling could be heard from above as the demigods broke out laughing at how perfect Grover got Zeus.

"I can see now why my father likes this little satyr." Rodolphus said with a laugh, he could really not remember when the last time was that he felt truly amused and it didn't involve hurting someone, he still was not pleased with what had happened to him to be honest.

It took another ten minutes for the demigods to calm down so that Sybill could continue, it was good to have a bit of a laugh before things got serious again.

_**When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful bothers, the sons of Kronos."**_

Severus smiled in amusement at the fearful or resenting looks, in the case of the Gryffindors mostly Potter and the two Weasley brats, he was getting seeing that currently was he the only Big Three child present in these halls.

_**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**_

_**"Right, You know, After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**_

Severus tried not to scowl as he remembered being cleared up that the lot drawing had been rigged, Zeus had a lot to answer for when that come out.

_**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**_

_**"Uh-huh."**_

_**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**_

"Thanks to my cousin there finally is." Severus said with a hint of thankfulness in his voice.

_**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus either.**_

"Something other that needed to be solved no matter how a certain paranoid little brother wasn't so keen about that." Lucius said as he looked up at the sky where it thundered again, but now people were sure that they had also heard a screech, like an angry peacock, before it got silent again.

_**He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld.**_

"More like trying to sort of the mess his siblings make with they nature catastrophes, keep one eye on the dead and not go mad from all the paperwork." Severus said shuddering, his father had it not easy with his work now that was for sure, but at least now he also had Deadelus and 'Bob' at his usage to solve problems.

"Sounds like a great, calming job." Charlie said sarcastically as he looked over at his little brother sitting farther away from them, Percy may be the only one of them who can work for hours straight and not go bonkers, then he remembered suddenly that he may get some answers about how to deal with the current situation from his younger brother. He will corner him the next time he had the chance for that.

_**If he did have a cabin here . . ." Grover shuddered. "Well, it would be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**_

"And what does that mean?" Severus asked while people watched the ghost who had entered the Great Hall look nervous and scarred as they floated around, fidgeting with they clothes.

"Snape's mood affects the ghosts." Hermione realized with a gasp.

"Another inherited trait from everyone who belongs to the Underworld beside that his older sister Melinoë is Goddess of Ghosts, she drives her opponents crazy while taking up the spirit of a loved one they had lost using they guilt against them." Lavender explained.

"Lovely sister." Ron said with a wrinkled nose.

"Does the professor have other immortal siblings?" Parvati asked, she didn't know why she just did.

"Two more, one of them is Zagreus he is the God of Dead Wild while his sister Macaria is the Goddess of Blessed death and guards the gates to the Isle of the Best." Lavender told her friend before turning back to the head table where Sybill started reading again.

_**"But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**_

Everyone leaned closer to the edge of they seats.

_**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage.**_

All eyes turned again to Severus.

"But you are the same age as Lily had been." spoke up Petunia Dursley for the first time as she looked incredulously at the once best-friend of her sister.

"That is true, this had something to do with one of my brother's casting a powerful spell on my mother when she had been pregnant which kind of stopped my growt and not only made her younger, but also put her in a trance, she had been after that hidden away by her family to be kept safe from Zeus's who would have killed her if he knew." Severus explained to the gapping crowd.

"Who would have been powerful enough to do that with magic?" Harry asked gapping, he was sure that even Dumbledore would not be this powerful if the curious and surprised look on the headmaster's face was any indication to go by.

"Ah, you should know his name Mr. Potter and should most people, but I think one would never think that he had the God of the Underworld as his father, alas he come in looks more after his mother and not our father like our other two brothers from that time well except the pale skin colour." Severus said as his eyes flashed over at the Headmaster before turning back to the students. "My half-brother who intended with his spell to protect both me and my mother had been a wizard whose name nowadays gets scowled on and only his bad deeds are remembered while another gets praised and paraded for his loss, but so is the fate our father's children have. And if you still have not figured it out I'm talking about Gellert Grindelwald."

Before the scrams could start, even thought it seemed that everyone was busy imitating a person hit by a stunning spell, Sybill read on, they will start screaming soon enough when they hear who Severus's other brother had been in that war.

_**World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other.**_

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, a son of Zeus and Winton Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom a son of Poseidon were both leaders of the Allied Powers who stood against the Axis Powers, one of they leaders being Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany and a son of Hades." Minerva supplied which seemed to break the shock which had fallen over the hall which got filled by many screams of shock.

"GRINDELWALD AND HITLER WERE BROHTERS OF PROFESSOR SNAPE!"

"ONE OF OUR PRIME MINISTERS HAD NOT BEEN FULLY HUMAN!" this come from a spluttering Vernon Dursley, freaks were everywhere!

"THIS HAS TO BE A JOKE!"

"FIRST THE FOUNDERS AND NOW THEM ALSO, WHO IS NEXT YOU-KNOW-WHO?!"

And many such screams could be heard by the panicked witches and wizards as the demigods watched them calmly, they had decided to let them shout themselves out while Dumbledore had an unreadable expression on his face.

"Uhm…Moony, remind me that I go up tonight into Dumbledore's office and tell old Phineas that I really love him." Sirius whispered to Remus before adding. "Also, I'm really, really worried about Prongs now."

"You are not the only one, Lily had warned the both of you to leave Severus alone, but you didn't listen." Remus whispered back to his now guiltily looking friend.

It took almost a whole hour for everyone to sit back in they seats panting while the demigods had spent that time chatting with each other or watching the floating Warplugs like Luna did.

"Now that everyone has calmed down, I will continue." Sybill said as everyone nodded accepting the goblets filled with pumpkin juice which had appeared in front of them gratefully.

_**The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**_

"This is a much more ancient and different version of the Unbreakable Vow which tends to kill the person who breaks it." Minerva said as the twins squirmed under the stern look they father was sending them, they knew that what they had nearly done with Ron had been dumb, said little brother was at the moment busy shuddering as he remembered the same thing as the twins.

_**Thunder boomed.**_

_**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**_

_**Grover nodded.**_

_**"And the brothers kept their word-no kids?"**_

The Demigods snorted.

"My father was the only one who kept that oath with all of his three current living demigod children coming from the time of World War II." Severus said before adding "The third and seventh book will explain my other two siblings."

_**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**_

"Surprise, surprise." Lucius said testily, he heard the story about what his step-father had pulled with Sev's brother and his at the time still living sister.

"I think you will now all know why getting Percy had been Grover's second chance." Theo said looking uncomfortable, none of them liked to hear that story because it still saddened them, but if they show it around Thalia one gets a free card to be zapped by her.

_**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo-he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia . . . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**_

Everyone looked uncomfortable, they didn't like where this was heading.

_**"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault."**_

"That doesn't matter, the breaking of the oath must punish someone if it gets broken." Hannah said sadly as Zacharias gave her a hug.

_**Grover hesitated."Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods.**_

"And both of them just like my younger brother are part of the strongest generation of those children." Severus said with a small smile making everyone exchange nervous glances since knowing that Grindelwald was such a child, by the others they were not sure about they powers.

_**They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath.**_

"He had his ground, his youngest brother was running around during World War II. making sure that he murders all possible children of his oldest brother, this was why Severus got hidden by his brother while two other of his sibling after nearly escaping death through they uncle's hand were hidden by they father." Lucius growled while some people looked conflicted about who to give sympathy to in this argument seeing how in both cases were it the children who suffered.

_**Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**_

_**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur.**_

Most people felt as if ice would be spreading through they stomachs, slowly spreading through they whole body.

_**"All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hell hounds. **_

"Imagine vicious dongs with glowing red eyes, sharp fangs and as high as half of the Great Hall doors." Pansy supplied making only Hagrid look interested in those dogs, the others were either pale, looked sick, prayed that Hagrid never gets his hands on one or hoped to never meet such a creature.

_**They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill.**_

Many of the witches were crying by this part as they imagined a girl not older then a second year facing a hoard of monsters who were sent to kill her so that she can give her friends time to get to safety. The demigods didn't say a thing or react, there had been many who sacrificed themselves for the life of others during both of the wars, the pain of the loss of to many loved ones had clashed together and become a calming numb feeling, at least were they loved ones now all happy and safe for all eternity in Elysium if they don't decide to reincarnate. Meanwhile was Harry staring at his hands which were in his lap, that girl had been not older then him at the time he faced the Basilisk to save Ginny, but he had Fawkes help him and the Sword of Gryffindor given to him by the Sorting Hat, but that girl had been all alone against a large number of monsters, outclassed, fated to die on that hill. His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione placing her hand on his and giving him a small reassuring smile, he smiled back at her, she always knew when he needed support and was stubborn enough to not back of till she had helped him.

_**As she died, Zeus took pity of her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**_

There was a five minute long silence, now they understood why that place was named like that.

_**I stared at the pine in the distance.**_

_**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too.**_

"It does that to you no matter how often you hear it." Hannah said with a sad smile on her lips.

_**A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**_

Hermione squeezed Harry's hand again when she saw him lower his gaze again, at the same time were both Neville and Ron still busy getting Ginny out of her memories about the Chamber.

_**"Grover," I said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**_

Hermione didn't like that hopeful glint which had entered Harry's eyes, if it should not change would she need to talk to Lavender or better Professor Snape and ask for help.

_**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**_

Those who knew who Houdini was blinked with wide eyes, there were really a good deal of people out there who had a god as parent.

"Son of Apollo, son of Zeus and a son of Hermes." Minerva supplied to the students and others sitting with them.

_**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**_

Harry, Mr. Diggory and Cho leaned closer to hear.

_**"No. Never. Orpheus came close . . .**_

They enthusiasms dropped, but unfortunately only slightly.

_**Percy, you're not seriously thinking-"**_

_**"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So . . . a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**_

_**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they cause really huge problems."**_

Severus huffed in annoyance while his friends started snickering in they agreement.

_**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**_

_**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't . . . Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were-you know-you'd never ever allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**_

"Nemesis also represents balance not only revenge." Theo said as correction while Luna had a small frown on her face.

"Also, last time I remember was Nemesis a Goddess and not a God." Poppy added in blinking.

"Maybe she looks like a guy." Ron said quietly, but both Dean and Lavender heard him.

"I would hope that she didn't hear that, Nemesis is the sister of a good deal of dangerous deities." Dean said.

"Like whom?" Ginny asked from beside her brother.

"Oh, no one much just like such deities as the three Fates who were in the second chapter, Eris the Goddess of Strife, Thanatos the God of Peaceful Death, the Keres who are Goddesses of Violent Death, Hypnos the twin of Thanatos who is the God of Sleep his son and Luna's dad Morpheus as you remember is the God of Dreams, then there is Moros who represents doom and destiny, Ozys who is woe, pain and distress, Lyssa who is mad rage, frenzy and rabies in animals to name a few." Lavender finished to the pale redhead who looked bout to wet his pants.

"And these and some more are all Luna's grandaunts and uncles." Dean added in as the group looked ever fearfully at the blonde Ravenclaw who was playing with her necklace made from dried fruits.

_**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**_

"Probably." Pansy said shrugging, Grover had really little self-esteem back then.

_**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**_

_**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**_

The demigods grinned at this in excitement.

"I still prefer our War Games." Lucius said making those who heard him decide that they didn't want to know.

_**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**_

_**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.**_

Both Theo and Minerva had proud looks on they faces when this was read.

_**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**_

Now it was Pansy who looked happy.

_**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**_

_**"Yeah."**_

_**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**_

_**"Not always," he said. "But often."**_

_**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do-repaint the flag?"**_

This question got everyone, but the demigods only smiled knowingly as Sybill read on.

_**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**_

_**"Whose side are we on?"**_

_**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't.**_

"Think at that time were his thoughts not on the sides of the game." Severus whispered to Lucius who nodded grimly.

_**The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.**_

"Take out the 'almost' and you are perfectly right." Pansy mumbled in anger, nothing was worse then a traitor.

_**"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."**_

"He hated that plan." Dean said making everyone curious why that was, but seeing what this chapter was about they may find out.

_**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**_

The three sisters ignored the gazes they were getting from everyone in the hall.

_**Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.**_

"Definitely an interesting way, just like in the old times when one wanted to gather an army." Moody said, he had expected a boring game of a normal capture the flag, but he should have known better.

_**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.**_

Some of the more observant people again noticed the demigods flinching.

_**Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive.**_

"True, we only were that in the two wars." Hannah admitted and the others nodded it was not good to hold back in a war no matter how hard that is.

_**Aphrodite's son and daughters I wasn't too worries about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.**_

Lavender blushed as all gazes went to her.

"Well, they were certainly dangerous during the two wars and you should see them clash with the hunters." Dean said making the girl give him a beaming smile for his support.

_**Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**_

There were again some sad looks.

"You should fear they automatons, those can be destructive." Zacharias said shuddering as he remembered some of those.

_**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**_

Again made Pansy's growl make others back away form her in fright.

_**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**_

_**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**_

A good deal of jaws landed again on the tables as they heard the rules of the game and then saw the grins on the demigods faces.

_**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.**_

"Excuse me, but I think I prefer Quidditch more." Charlie said with wide eyes, against this game sounded his job nice and not so dangerous.

_**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use them?"**_

_**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here-Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**_

_**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**_

_**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**_

_**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**_

_**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."**_

_**She kept marching.**_

"I really can't decide whose fault it had been that they took five painfully long years." Lavender asked himself sorrowfully as she remembered how much they cabin had been tormented by the obvious love between those two, but neither of them making a step for so long.

_**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**_

_**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.**_

"Wrong God, Annabeth." Dean and Zacharias said grinning and people were back to feeling they pockets.

_**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you.**_

"Maimer." Pansy said happily.

"Though most call in Lamer behind Clarisse's back." Theo whispered to Draco and Blaize before he was hit over the head by Pansy who had heard him.

_**Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**_

_**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**_

_**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always had a plan."**_

"Again, he hated that plan." Dean said and personally he could understand Percy on that one.

_**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**_

_**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**_

Lavender groaned again, just hearing how they interacted with each other brought back the old frustration.

"Let her, this is a child of Aphrodite thing." Dean said to they table who were staring at the blonde with raised eyebrows.

_**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**_

_**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot.**_

"A normal feeling by your first time." Theo said, but then snickered as eh suddenly remembered something. "Except if you are a ten year old son of Hades, then your want to know if you killing is allowed." he laughed while some paled.

"They are mental in that family." Ron whispered to both Harry and Hermione before they looked carefully over to the staff table where Snape sat with a small, fond smile on his lips at the mention of is brother's antics.

_**The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**_

_**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**_

"No." the demigods sand much to the uneasiness of the magical people.

_**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue plumed ally from Apollo raced part me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory. **_

_**Great, I though. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**_

_**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**_

The demigods tensed, it had already been there since the game had started! They were lucky that there had been no wounded or worse causalities on that night because of it.

_**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.**_

Moody nodded, the boy had the right instincts that was for sure, but seeing what they get sent through he was sure that all demigods had such instincts.

_**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**_

Everyone relaxed, but the demigods knew that it would not be gone for to long.

_**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**_

_**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**_

_**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard issue bronze swords-not that made me feel any better.**_

_**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**_

_**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb and the air burned.**_

_**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.**_

"And that is allowed?" yelled a shocked professor Sprout.

"It is a magical item and also her weapon so yes it is and we never had any deaths during Capture the Flag no matter the weapons." Sybill said calmly before turning back to the book.

"Were you also there Pans?" Blaize asked curiously.

"No, I had been on the other team with my other sisters and a few brothers to take down the Apollo archers." she explained to the other, it had been a bothersome task.

_**I fell back.**_

_**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**_

_**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**_

_**"Give him a haircut, Clarisse said."Grab his hair."**_

_**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with er spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**_

_**"Oh wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**_

_**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid that it didn't come out that way.**_

"To bad they didn't go there, the Athena cabin had made a lovely trap for anyone who approaches." Zacharias said wistfully before holding his hands up in surrender when Pansy flashed him a glare, ignoring the yelp she got from Boot.

_**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**_

"I think that was my brother Mark." Pansy said thoughtfully.

_**"You do that without my help," I told them**__. __**It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**_

"You think?" come the many incredulous questions.

"He is good with angering those he shouldn't." Rodolphus said while massaging his forehead, he really needed to find out how that boy is still alive.

_**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shishkebabbed.**_

_**As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**_

_**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy-warm and cold at the same time.**_

"Says the guy who gets himself in the middle of any dangerous situation." Zacharias said and even those who didn't know what Percy had went through, those book titles had given some implications.

_**"No maiming," I managed to say.**_

_**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**_

Sybill hurried on before anyone had time to react.

_**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die.**_

_**But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jellybeans.**_

Pansy buried her face in her hands, groaning as Theo pated her on the back.

_**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**_

_**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me.**_

"They have names, Mark and Sherman." Pansy moaned, her face still hidden by her hands.

_**I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick.**_

_**Ugly Number Four**_

"Anthony."

_**didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust. I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**_

"Ground number two for Risse to want to fight him." Pansy said finally looking up.

_**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**_

"Sorry cousin, you are talking to the wrong cousin if you want to use that name." Rodolphus said grinning as Severus glared at him.

"Keep reading Sybill before your sister will need to put this guy back together after I'm done with him." Severus growled out.

_**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**_

Pansy and a good deal of people flinched at this.

_**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**_

_**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**_

_**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven.**_

"That is a really impressive charm, it seems to react to the named borders and also to the person holding the flag." Flitwick said in an eager tone, he would not mind studying that charm for some time.

_**Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**_

_**The game was over. We'd won.**_

_**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**_

_**I looked, but she wasn't there.**_

There were a few looks of confusion.

_**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**_

"So like Harry's cloak." Ron said to his two friends.

"Yes, but it is only made to hide one person and les suspicious then a cloak." Hermione said while Harry was still stunned at the idea of an invisibility hat, well the Weasley twins certainly loved that idea and wrote it to the other points on they list.

_**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the face that she'd just been invisible.**_

_**"You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**_

_**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always always has a plan."**_

"Can't blame that guy for not liking that plan." Sirius said.

_**"A plan to get me pulverized."**_

There were many agreeing nods.

_**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but . . ." she shrugged. "You didn't need help."**_

_**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**_

_**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**_

_**"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it!"**_

_**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**_

Some people looked envious, such instant healing powers would be pretty useful to have.

_**"I-I don't get it," I said.**_

_**Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**_

_**"What-"**_

_**"Just do it."**_

_**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**_

Both Theo and Minerva groaned at this, they thought that it was pretty obvious from that who Percy's father was. Just what had they sister been thinking.

"_**Oh Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want . . . I assumed it would be Zeus . . ."**_

"Annabeth, why would a child of Zeus have water based powers?" Minerva asked not caring that she was talking to a book.

_**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**_

"Ugh…you remember us how everyone stopped doing practical jokes with summoning after and incident?" Dean asked the hall who nodded. "Well this was it."

"Also you will now find out even in a better way how a Hellhound looks like." Theo added in making the others look pale, they even failed to notice the whimper which come from the Minister.

_**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly. "Stand ready! My bow!"**_

"At least they have a competent supervisor there." Aurora said to Rolanda and Pamona who nodded in agreement, looking worried mostly that they now knew that some of they colleagues may have fought against such a thing.

_**Annabeth drew her sword.**_

_**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**_

"A young adult then, they get bigger with time." Severus said.

"Sev, you are kind of not helping the students and the others at the table." Lucius pointed out the pale faces all around them.

_**It was looking straight at me.**_

"Meaning that he was the intended target of the summoner." Theo pointed out making some people shake in fear.

_**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled. "Percy, run!"**_

_**She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor,**_

Some of the first years were crying by now while others looked as if they would be sick, but one thing was for sure, there would be a good number of nightmares coming tonight.

_**there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**_

"We were worried that we had shoot to late." Luna admitted, she had been one of the archers close by when the attack happened.

"You and your siblings did great Luna." Theo reassured her at which the girl gave him a small smile at thanks.

"Never would have seen Luna going against something like that with a bow and arrows." Ginny commented in an unbelieving tone.

"She is amazing with them, but that is only natural." Dean said grinning.

_**By some miracle, I was still alive.**_

Everyone sighed in relief at this not realizing that there would not be seven books here if he died after only a week.

_**I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut.**_

Many shuddered at this.

_**Another second and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**_

_**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**_

_**"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. **_

All eyes went to Snape again who rolled his ayes at the childish reactions he was getting.

"I'm now extremely worried about James." Sirius whispered to a pale Remus who was sure that even Grayback would not stand a chance against such a thing, now thinking about it he wondered if Severus could arrange a meeting.

_**They don't . . . they're not supposed to . . ."**_

_**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**_

A feeling of cold dread and fear washed over everyone present in the hall, they knew how they would feel if someone would bring something so dangerous into they safe heaven.

_**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**_

The demigods were carefully controlling they expressions to not give away they feelings at the given moment. This had been Luke's second betrayal towards they family.

_**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**_

"Risse was still dazed and in shock form the attack and those who want to argue, I only say: Second Year." Pansy said in defence of her sister, her mentioning about how the school had falsely accused Harry for setting the Basilisk lose on the students also did a good job with making everyone who had been at Hogwarts at that time to look down guiltily.

_**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**_

_**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**_

_**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**_

_**"I'm okay."**_

"Just like Harry." Hermione grumbled, sometimes was that wizard just impossible with his carelessness regards his injuries.

_**"No you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**_

_**I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**_

_**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**_

_**"Look, I-I don't know why, I said, trying to apologize."I'm sorry . . ."**_

_**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**_

"We only kind of later noticed that his wounds were nearly all healed when the Apollo cabin demanded from him to take of his armour so that they can treat him." Hannah admitted, it was at that time rare that they saw the claiming of another person so had been kind of busy staring at the symbol which had appeared the moment Percy had stepped into the water.

"What is happening?" asked Justin as he looked at her questioningly.

"He is being claimed by his father." she explained smiling.

_**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um . . ."**_

_**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**_

_**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."**_

"Ironic, those who wanted the oath done break it in the end." Lucius whispered to both Severus and Rodolphus.

"My father tends to keep his word." Severus answered back.

_**"It's determined," Chiron announced.**_

_**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**_

"After he defeated us? You can bet on that." Pansy said confidently.

_**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**_

_**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses, Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."**_

"That is the usually procedure with the listing of all properties of power." Minerva said as she watched Sybill hand the book over to Rodolphus who didn't look all to keen about it, but didn't complain.

_To be continued…_


	10. Is that a mummy?

A/N: so her is the new chapter and as said to many ideas in my head tend to get tangled if I don't write them down, this is the ground for the talks regards Egyptians.

* * *

IX. Is that a mummy?

Rodolphus let his gaze wander over the hall before he waved his hand once, letting goblets appear in front of everyone with a reddish liquid in them.

"No need to look so suspicious, it is only Kool-Aid, my younger brother Dakota is quiet fond of it and you all look near fainting so drink it seeing that I'm not able to supply you with hot chocolate or something other non-alcoholic." he ordered everyone before looking down at the book in his hands.

**_I Am Offered a Quest_**

"Ah, seems as if he needs to met up with 'her', poor boy." Rodolphus said in a sympatric tone, he had once snuck up there and that experience was enough, at least now they had not a person who should have already received the ancient rites.

"Who is he talking about?" Seamus whispered to Parvati.

"We will know soon." she answered, really this was obvious.

**_The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three._**

**_I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else._**

"That sounds nice." Ron said wistfully while Ginny also nodded her head neither noticing that their father was watching them. Arthur had kept an eye on his family, namely their reactions since the first word-fight, the way Molly was acting since Sirius was hidden in Grimmauld was sometimes really over the line and now he also needed to fear that she might anger a God to hurt her, the warning had been more than clear.

"I think it sounds lonely." Parvati said as she looked over at the Ravenclaw table where her sister was looking back at her.

**_And I was absolutely miserable._**

A good deal of people nodded at this, it may sound fun at the beginning, but in the end will it be the opposite if one is alone.

**_Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease._**

"Father could give you a long talk about how one can deal with that." Severus said while Lucius leaned closer to him, he hated it if his friend dwelled on bad memories or experiences, but that was part of his inherited nature.

"It was not like we wanted to avoid him, but we were not sure how to react." Dean said guiltily.

"There was also the fact that now another of the Big Three had broken their pact about not having anymore children and most of us still remembered what happened to Thalia." Hannah said sadly while everyone flinched as they remembered the ground why a three got after her and the name of the hill on which said tree stands.

**_Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back._**

The younger demigods sunk lower in their seats.

**_The attack had scared everybody. _**

"One would be an idiot to not be scared by it, most only tend to hide the fact." Pansy said the later part of her sentence mostly applying to her and her siblings.

"I would be worried if one doesn't get scared by that." Charlie whispered to Bill, he remembered the first time he saw a dragon lash out, the memory made him shudder till this day.

**_It sent two messages: one; that I was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe._**

"I'm starting to appreciate the Death Eaters and Voldemort's attacks." Harry whispered to Hermione, at least with them he knows what he can expect by the attack the monsters would be harder.

**_The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. _**

**_Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, _**

"That sounded cool, but I would be scared to go against such a guy." Colin said with a mix of awe and reluctance.

**_so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process._**

"He was trying to get a feel to what it is like to fight Percy." Dean growled and people started backing away from him as Lavender patted him on the back.

"I'm now really sure that something is up with this Luke." Hermione whispered to her friends.

**_"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches._**

"Did that book just say 'flaming torches'?" asked a gaping Pamona Sprout while.

"Yup, you are holding a flaming torch in one hand and the sword in the other, the trick is not to get burned by accident." Rodolphus said in a calm tone as if he would be talking about the weather.

"Don't worry, there is only one situation where this combination of weapon and torch is needed or useful to have." Minerva said to her friend who didn't look reassured.

"They shouldn't be using dangerous weapons in the first place." Molly Weasley mumbled under her breath, she was still shaken because of that arrow.

"Hmm…this doesn't sound all too bad." Moody mused to himself while both Tonks and Kingsley stared at him gaping.

"Moody, we will not let the auror trainees start going at each other with swords and flaming torches." Tonks admonished her mentor; they were already getting each year fewer people who want to become aurors, no need to scare the remaining few away.

**_"Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."_**

"It is the most useful when you are facing a hydra up close, they hate fire and this is the only way one can stop it's annoying habit to sprout two more heads if you cut one down." Theo explained to the wide-eyed wizards.

"My one time with the basilisk was enough, thank you very much." Harry said, he had enough of huge snakes after that experience.

**_Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes._**

**_After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"_**

"And how fast this changed." Smith snickered with the other demigods.

**_Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored._**

"Percy you idiot!" at this stared everyone at Pansy who was looking at the book incredulously. "You should have just said something and not only Risse, but our whole cabin would have been at your service." she groaned while covering her face with her hands.

"It is kind of strange seeing her so much into fights." Blaize whispered to Draco who nodded his head.

**_I knew somebody at camp resented me,_**

Cue growls from the demigods and confused gazes from the wizards.

**_because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the New York Daily News, opened to the Metro page._**

More growls made the wizards back away even further from the demigods while Fudge felt himself close to join Umbridge on the ground.

**_The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page._**

"You should have thrown that piece of garbage away Perce." Dean said still furious that Luke had done such a thing.

**_BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER_** **_FREAK CAR ACCIDENT_**

Harry and some of the others could not help themselves, but to narrow their eyes at the title of the article.

**_BY EILEEN SMYTHE_**

**_Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken._**

**_The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding._**

**_Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. _**

"More like fleeing from a monster." Tonks mumbled under her breath she had a suspicious feeling that she wont like this article and by the way the demigods were reacting and her uncle's sneer as he read gave her a good confirmation that she was right.

**_Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident._**

"This 'mist' thing is certainly powerful to cover up something like that." Bill whispered to his brother who nodded, even the confundus charm would need to be really strong sot that it can be of any help and mass oblivation took time, but this power seemed to be automatic in some aspects as also controllable.

**_Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims_**

This brought forth a fresh round of growls, but this time looked also a good deal of the wizards and witches angry.

**_that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools_**

"Which is not his fault." Poppy snapped, that mortal can really feel himself lucky that he is already in the Underworld.

**_and has expressed violent tendencies in the past._**

"Is he trying to frame his own stepson?" asked an incredulously looking Madam Bones, she could not believe such a vile thing.

"Percy would never intentionally hurt someone he cares about." snapped Lavender in anger.

**_Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline._**

"Severus, would your father mind us visiting one of his guest?" Sybill asked the dark-haired son of Pluto.

"I will talk to him if it is possible." Severus replied in a frightening tone which made others shiver.

**_The phone number was circled in black marker._**

The sounds of outrage that followed after this needed five minutes to die down so that Rodolphus could continue.

**_I wadded up the paper and threw it away,_**

"You should have done that sooner." Pansy hissed.

**_then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin._**

**_"Lights out," I told myself miserably._**

**_That night, I had my worst dream yet._**

"And we should all note the keyword on the end of his sentence." Rodolphus said, that boy has really got the worst demigod dreams.

**_I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance._**

Severus sat up straighter, he knew which city that was.

**_About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green._**

The demigods snorted and Dudley looked interested, he loved boxing alright, but wrestling was also great, the others only blinked at the book.

**_They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose._**

Many shuddered at this, mostly those who remembered the news about strange weather in America.

**_I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand._**

**_Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, Give it back! Give it back! Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy._**

"As much as I agree with Percy" Lucius ignored the rumbling from above "that lost 'toy' is a pretty dangerous one."

"Hmm…it could to do with the title." Hermione mused.

"But Hermione, if that is true then that what got stollen is lightning and from that are enough in the book." Ron said while the girl shook her head.

"There must be more to it." she said finally.

**_The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt._**

**_I yelled, Stop it! Stop fighting!_**

"Not going to work, stubbornness is inheritable in this family." Rodolphus said as he looked over his relatives who nodded their heads in agreement.

**_The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice._**

"Like mother, like son." Minerva hissed out as her fellow demigods nodded, Kronos had always been Gaea's favourite child.

"What do you mean?" asked Padma as she looked over at Luna.

"That what lays hidden below is just like the being which had born it." Luna answered which of course confused everyone except her family.

"It has something to do with us mentioning both our great-grandfather in the case of Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy grandfather and then our great-great-grandmother." Hannah said, but didn't elaborate further, they will eventually figure it out.

**_Come down, little hero, the voice crooned. Come down!_**

The demigods shuddered at the similarities.

"And my dear uncle dared to compare my father to that thing." Severus mumbled bitterly.

"The two of them are nothing alike." Lucius said nodding in agreement with his favourite cousin.

**_The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me._**

Cue more flinches and some Ravenclaws and Slytherins suddenly remembered at the comment some chapters ago that Mother Earth was anything, but loving which made them pretty nervous.

**_I woke up, sure I was falling._**

**_I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that._**

**_I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold._**

**_"Come in?"_**

**_Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."_**

**_"Why?"_**

**_"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."_**

Some gave the red haired wizard wary looks as he chuckled, but he only continued on.

**_Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble._**

**_For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive._**

"He should not feel that way." Hermione stated and Mrs. Weasley shook her head in agreement.

"Unfortunately there was more to the ground why that oath had been made, the other books will have hints in it and you will hear the full prophecy in the fifth book when it comes to pass. Now we know that it will turn out good for us, but at that time yes, his existence was not only a crime, but something like a possible death sentence for all of humanity." Minerva said and gestured for Rodolphus to continue before anyone had the chance to ask what she meant.

**_The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict._**

"Nah, dad is their usual messenger, well except by grand-uncle Hades, he uses the Furies like Alecto." Dean said nonchalantly.

"Ugh…I would hate getting a message delivered by that thing." Ron whispered to the others with a shiver.

**_Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil._**

There were some raised eyebrows at that comparison while others snickered.

**_A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella._**

**_"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."_**

"Huh?" come it from all around the hall.

**_I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"_**

**_He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."_**

The book received more confused gazes.

**_I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley._**

"You can even control the weather in your camp?" asked a shocked Ravenclaw.

"Yep, it certainly is useful." Theo replied while Flitwick looked excited, he really will need to talk with both Minerva and Severus to ask them if it was possible for him to have a look at those charms they had.

**_But this storm ... this one was huge._**

**_At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs._**

Every head turned to the three present children of said god.

"It is fun." Luna said while still receiving the incredulous looks.

**_Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow._**

Rodolphus gave a small, fond smile at this, but those who knew his could still note the sadness in his features.

**_Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm._**

"Of course, everyone felt that something was in the air." Theo said while by the staff table Moody nodded again in approval about the demigods good instincts.

**_Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air._**

_"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."_

At this stared Harry, his friends and their year mates in both Gryffindor and Slytherin at the staff table or more precisely at Snape who gave them all an annoyed look.

"You remember that he is technically speaking my cousin, right?" he asked them and they turned away.

"I can definitely see the family resemblance." Harry whispered to the others who nodded nervously, it was getting more harder to deny.

**_I waited._**

**_"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to bow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."_**

"He kind of got that from mom." Theo said while smiling sheepishly.

**_A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house._**

**_"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said._**

**_"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."_**

Everyone looked at the demigods while Arthur shook his head at his wife that she should keep quiet.

"He has his reasons for not liking his job, some of it will be explained in the third book, but he is not a bad person." Sybill said in an earnest tone so that Rodolphus doesn't have to defend his father.

**_"Spontaneous combustion is a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in._**

There were many hurried nods at that.

**_"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."_**

"I think after having witnessed a good few of his son's adventures, Lord Poseidon would have more then welcomed that alternative." Theo said and there was an agreeing rumble at his words.

"I think Lord Poseidon agrees with you." Pansy said to her cousin before turning to Draco. "It is good if you use the terms lord and lady when referring to the gods." she told him.

**_"Mr. D—" Chiron warned._**

**_"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."_**

Everyone looked nervous at this, mostly those who remembered the chapter title.

**_Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass._**

Many muggleborns blinked at this.

**_He snapped his fingers._**

**_The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind._**

"This would certainly explain the grape smell on some of our raids on Death Eater hiding spots." Moody mumbled to himself, and some thought that his paranoia had gotten worse.

**_Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."_**

**_We did._**

**_Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use._**

**_"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"_**

**_Just hearing the name made me shudder._**

**_Chiron probably wanted me to say, Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast._**

**_But I didn't feel like lying._**

There were a good deal of approving nods.

**_"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."_**

**_"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."_**

"Looking at the past, that is one of the biggest understatement of the century." Lucius said while shaking his head while beside him were both Severus and Minerva busy giving dark looks to Dumbledore who was again looking at them with interest.

**_"Done ... with what?"_**

**_"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"_**

**_I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers._**

**_"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."_**

**_Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."_**

**_Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together._**

The tension in the hall rose, no one liked the picture they had gotten into their heads.

**_"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"_**

Those who till now had not figured the ground out looked at the book with wide eyes.

**_Chiron and Grover exchanged looks._**

**_Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"_**

**_My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth._**

"That will be a returning theme." the demigods mumbled together.

**_"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft._**

**_And ... I've also been having these dreams."_**

"Hate those." all demigods said.

**_"I knew it," Grover said._**

**_"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered._**

**_"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"_**

**_"Only the Oracle can determine." _**

Cue shudders from the demigods.

"What is wrong Lavender?" Parvati asked her best friend.

"You will soon see, the old Oracle kind of had a little problem to her." was her only reply as she tried to suppress the memories of seeing the mummy walk around in the nigh time forest.

**_Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."_**

Some looked confused, others were leaning closer to the book.

**_I laughed nervously. "A what?"_**

**_"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."_**

**_"Oh."_**

**_"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."_**

All those who knew what those were stared in utter terror at the book.

"He…he has such a horrendous thing and it was stolen?" Hermione brought out in a fearful tone.

"Yep, most gods have pretty dangerous weapons at their disposal." Dean said shrugging.

"In other words, don't get them angry at you." Poppy said while she threw a look at a red Mrs. Weasley while her children and husband had gone pale at the thought that she had been only lucky to get away with a small scare.

"Vernon…" Petunia whispered in a fearful tone, "we will not go on that trip this summer or ever near America." she told him.

"I wish that I would have never taken Mugglestudies." Sirius whispered, that class combined with his knowledge about mythology were currently a horrible combination.

**_"And it's missing?"_**

**_"Stolen," Chiron said._**

**_"By who?"_**

**_"By whom," Chiron corrected._**

**_Once a teacher, always a teacher._**

**_"By you."_**

**_My mouth fell open._**

So did it by most of the hall.

**_"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument._**

"When do they not?" Lucius asked himself, arguments were an everyday thing in this family.

**_The usual nonsense:_**

Here Rodolphus stopped reading and looked at the others.

"They are still continuing those?" he asked them.

"Unfortunately." come the reply while the mortals looked confused again.

**_'Mother Rhea always liked you best,'_**

This sent a good deal of jaws back on the tables.

**_'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera._**

"Neither of them is, the only thing they are is much more paperwork for my father." Severus said.

"Excuse me, but these are the things two powerful gods debate about?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Immortality can get after a while boring and believe me that is on occasions still better then what happens on the Egyptian side." Dean said with a shrug.

"Do they also have demigod children?" asked Seamus curiously.

"They only started thinking about that not long ago, before that had they only controlled contact with mortals like listening to their prayers if they were a person following their Godly Path or if they were from the blood of the pharaohs then this meant that they could become the host for a god meaning they become their Eye. The descendants of the pharaohs are all magicians who are bound together by the House of Life" Ginny looked up at this, she remembered Bill mentioning it that the Egyptian wizards and witches were all part of that and they didn't accept other wizards most of the time, but he didn't know why. "They current Chief Lector, Amos Kane is the Eye of Set while his nephew Carter who got the title Pharaoh handed to him is the Eye of Horus." Lavender explained.

"Wait, did you say Kane?" Hermione asked in shock.

"What is wrong?" Ron asked.

"Dr. Julius Kane was one of the best Egyptologist out there, I have most of his books and was on two symposium by him, but he disappeared." she explained.

"Yes, Carter is his son while the Chief Lector is his younger brother as for the disappearance. Doctor Kane become the Eye of Osiris the Egyptian version of Hades and is currently running the Egyptian Underworld." Dean explained to the shocked wizards before Hermione spoke up again as she remembered an important fact.

"Wait, didn't you say that his brother is the Eye of Set?" she asked at which the two demigods nodded. "Set was a god of both evil and chaos as well as desert and storms, he killed his brother Osiris and then tried to do the same with Horus." Hermione said which made her friends stare gaping at the demigods who only nodded.

"True, but Set is one could say a necessary evil to hold up the balance, he had been the lieutenant of Ra the Egyptian Sun God and protected him every night from Apophis the Serpent of Chaos and Evil. He is not technically a bad person, some of his actions were lead by his anger that Ra had been tricked and forced into giving up his throne and then locked away and Set forbidden to see him, now that Ra had willingly decided to give his throne to Horus the only time he does something forceful is when he is getting his new boss to do also the boring part of being a ruler." Dean explained to the wizards before adding "I think we should now turn back to the book, we have already missed some parts of it.

**…****_never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"_**

"Not the best word to use Percy." Hannah said.

**_Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid._**

"Ugh…he needed to foreshadow that one now did he?" Pansy asked in a stained voice.

"What do you mean?" Blaize asked feeling nervous, others were also staring at the Slytherin table.

"Fourth book." was their only answer.

**_"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."_**

The demigods nodded.

**_"Perhaps paranoid," Chiron suggested._**

At this were the gazes of some Order and Ministry members trailing over to a certain auror.

**_"Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before._**

"Would have been nice if the plan would have worked out." Rodolphus said while three cousins were trying to figure out when that was.

"Could this have something to do with a golden net?" Narcissa asked both her sister and cousin.

"I also seem to remember a net being used." Andromeda said in agreement.

**_I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight._**

"A week after the exam?" Ron asked in horror.

**_How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer. _**

**_"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"_**

"That is actually a sensible thing." Rolanda whispered to Aurora who nodded her head in agreement.

**_"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since._**

The demigods shook their head at this, but knew that this was part of the Gods nature.

**_Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."_**

**_"But I'm just a kid!"_**

"Your point?" the demigods all asked in such a natural tone that everyone int he hall flinched, not wanting to know further what they school mates or teachers had experienced and still experience on almost daily basis, but unfortunately would these books not agree with them.

**_"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"_**

**_"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"_**

**_Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. _**

There were many nods at this.

**_But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date._**

Cue groans.

**_I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense_**

"Poor mom." said both Lucius and Hannah in sympathy for their mothers who are usually burdened with this task together with their aunt.

**_But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"_**

**_"Bad?" I guessed._**

"That is mildly putting it." Poppy said in a pained tone which made everyone nervous.

**_"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead._**

The mortals stared in horror at the book while the demigods only nodded, it had never been good if the divines were at war with each other.

**_Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."_**

"Water-balloon fights are fun." George said, but he knew that it would have not been fun us sky and sea truly started a war with one another.

**_"Bad," I repeated._**

**_"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."_**

"That is nothing new." Zacharias whispered to Hannah.

**_It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky._**

**_I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious._**

"Not good if that anger is directed at you." Dean said sagely.

**_"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."_**

**_"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"_**

**_"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"_**

**_"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."_**

**_"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"_**

**_"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."_**

**_I swallowed. "Good reason."_**

**_"You agree then?"_**

**_I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly._**

**_Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill._**

"Only one now on a pretty long list of names." come it from the demigods which made the others gap at them in shock as they tried to figure out how Percy could be still alive.

**_"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."_**

**_"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."_**

"Huh?"

**_Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door._**

**_I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place._**

**_The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes._**

A good deal of people shuddered at this, but now that they knew that Slytherin was a child of the God of Prophecies they didn't wonder about the animal.

**_I held my breath and climbed._**

**_The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS._**

Hermione blinked at this and so did Dudley who needed to read that book for one of his classes.

"Yep, those places are certainly real, the sister of one of the current Praetors at Camp Jupiter is the current Queen of the Amazons." Dean explained.

"And Circe's Island will be in the second book." Lavender added in.

**_One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled things_**_—_**_severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters._**

"I think that I prefer Snape's decoration better." Harry said looking slightly green.

"That attic sounds worse then my whole house." Sirius whispered to Remus in shock who could only nod.

**_A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969._**

"What!" some people yelled, but Rodolphus only continued reading and not paying them any attention.

**_By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy._**

**_Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk._**

Everyone shivered in horror or disgust while the three children of Apollo and the son of Pluto bowed their heads.

**_he wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time._**

"She comes from the forties like me and my still living half-siblings." Severus said which made everyone shudder.

"Shouldn't she have received a burial then already?" Tonks asked.

"She would have years ago, but there was a complication which made that impossible till four more years after this book." Sybill said in a grave tone, at least had the Oracle finally changed bodies.

"What could stop you to give a poor girl her final rest?" Rolanda asked in frustration, this sounded just cruel to let a girl's dead body sit in a clustered attic of horror by the window, then she suddenly stopped. Wasn't there something about someone moving the curtains by the attic window? She suddenly wished that she had not thought about that.

**_Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth._**

There were a good deal of frightened screams and the sound of the Minister hitting the floor.

"Is she an infenry?" Tonks asked her uncles and former teachers.

"No, she is something else." replied Poppy.

**_A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut._**

**_Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask._**

"That is the complication." Sybill said to the frightened hall. "She is the main Oracle of our father and her spirit changed hosts each generation, but due to unforeseen circumantes she failed to do so for quiet a while so the body needed to be kept."

No one commented at that, but inwardly were some glad that their divination's professor was at least alive.

**_I wanted to say, No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. But I forced myself to take a deep breath._**

**_The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist._**

"Ok, Slytherin was certainly related to that god." Seamus said feeling queasy, first snakes now the colour green.

**_But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely not human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either._**

There were many nods of approval at the observation.

**_I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"_**

**_The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies._**

Cue growls and threats.

**_My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist._**

**_Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned._**

Severus looked annoyed while Pansy bowed her head with an angry look on her face.

**_His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned._**

At this looked many relieved.

**_The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._**

And then tensed again while Sirius, Remus and Harry were reminded of another friend who had become a traitor.

**_Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all: And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._**

This only made the tension worse.

**_The figures began to dissolve._**

"And this is how a prophecy directly spoken by the power of Lord Apollo sounds." Dean said while Harry shivered, here he thought that Trelawney made a horrible prophecy in his third year while by the staff table was Snape glaring at a fidgeting Dumbledore.

**_At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"_**

**_The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos._**

**_I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else._**

**_My audience with the Oracle was over._**

Many felt grateful for that.

**_"Well?" Chiron asked me._**

**_I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."_**

**_Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"_**

**_"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron pressed. "This is important."_**

"Understatement."

**_My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."_**

**_"I knew it," Grover said._**

**_Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"_**

**_I didn't want to tell him._**

**_What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many._**

"At that time, now you have a good deal of them." Dean said in amusement.

**_And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, Oh, by the way, you'll fail._**

"An actual Oracle, prophecies are never about sunshine and daisies, if they are then the one telling you it is a fraud." Rodolphus said while shaking his head before returning to the book.

"So nice to know." Harry mumbled under his breath while Hermione still struggled with a part of her which told her that such things as divination didn't exist.

**_How could I confess that?_**

**_"No," I said. "That's about it."_**

**_He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."_**

At this looked many people, Dumbledore included at the demigods who were all nodding to confirm that this fact was true. This of course made the old wizard think that there could be also some double meaning to the prophecy regards Harry and Voldemort.

**_I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better._**

"He had enough experience with that I think." Charlie whispered to his brother.

"With prophecies like that is it no wonder." Bill answered back.

**_"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"_**

**_"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"_**

A growl made everyone turn their heads in the direction of the staff table.

"Don't worry, your professor will calm down close to the end of the book." Lucius said as he continued to pat Snape on the back.

**_"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed._**

**_"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."_**

"Firstly, my father would prefer if he would get less new subjects in his kingdom, the lot as we have now found out had been rigged so in any case he would have got the Underworld and thirdly should people stop blaming him for anything that goes wrong." Severus growled and the Great Hall seemed to darken.

"Erm... Sev, as much as I like to see you using umberkinesis I think your students will not find it pleasant to be effulgent with shadows so why don't we go for a walk?" Lucius asked and without waiting for an answer jumped up from his seat and started dragging the still muttering professor out of the hall.

Rodolphus only continued when they were out of the room and the light started to return.

"That was bloody scary." Ron muttered while a shaking Neville nodded his head.

"What did the professor mean by the lot being rigged?" Hermione asked.

"Let's just say that the current King of the Gods had some paranoid thoughts regards his oldest brother who happened to have inherited a good deal of their father's looks and a few smaller personality traits like his sharp mind and cunningness so he wanted him in a position where he could not be a problem." Lavender said bitterly, when this come out were many furious.

**_I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."_**

**_Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."_**

"More like the only you wanted to accept." Rodolphus said, but continued instead of elaborating.

**_A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"_**

**_"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."_**

**_"Yes, but—but Hades hates all heroes," _**

"Not exactly and to be honest, he is also the most fair of the gods." Minerva said, glad that Lucius had dragged Severus outside.

**_Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."_**

**_"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued._**

Both Dean and Zacharias looked annoyed at the reminder about what their brother did.

**_"Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."_**

**_"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."_**

"Two of many more to come, though Lord Hades is now kind of a different case seeing how both Nico and Hazel are really attached to their cousin and Percy has got a kind of understanding for why his uncle is the way he is now." Poppy said before gesturing to her cousin to continue.

**_"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."_**

**"****Sorry Grover, but that will not work." Theo said grinning. **

**_"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon.I don't pretend to under stand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."_**

"He will, but not what everyone had thought." Sybill said which made everyone who did not know the story look confused.

**_A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed._**

**_I was ready to take him on._**

**_Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld…_**

**_Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god._**

The wizards nodded their heads vehemently while the demigods tried not to grin, they were all thinking the same; '_That didn't stop you before the Second Titan War broke out.'_

**_Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips._**

"Ugh…dad hates it when that happens." Rodolphus groaned.

**_The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide._**

A good deal of people exchanged uneasy glances with each other.

**_"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."_**

**_"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does— they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule._**

"And here comes another rule which Gryffindor only loved all too much." Rodolphus said in an amused tone which made many heads look curiously at him, mostly the house of said Founder.

**_Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it._**

At this bit both Sirius and Remus back a groan as their eyes suddenly landed on Harry who did his best to not look at them.

**_No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"_**

**_"You're saying I'm being used."_**

"Technically, our gods are bound by a good deal of rules which prevent them from interfering to much in the live of mortals so they need their children to the their hand in this world, unlike the Egyptian gods who tend to use magicians from the ancient blood of the pharaohs as their hosts or allow them to use some of their powers." Minerva said at which Bill looked at her interested.

"Isn't being possessed a bad thing?" asked one of the sixth year Hufflepuffs.

"If one is not compatible and from the blood of the pharaohs then yes it is seeing that the hosting of a god could literally burn out you soul." at this stared many with horror at the transfiguration professor except the Golden Trio and their friends who had heard some explaining from the two demigods sitting with them. "Though the gods try to be careful if they think hat they have found their so called favoured one under their followers both the current leader of the House of Life where these magicians gather and the Chief Lector who is both and advisor and protector of the House's leader and each the Eye of a god, in other words they have the perfect balance with the god they are serving."

"Can you tell me which two gods those are, the reading can continue after that." Bill said, during his time in Egypt had he been fascinated by the House of Life and the ancient magic they used so finally being able to hear more about it was to exciting to let out.

"Of course, the leader is the Eye of Horus while the Chief Lector is following Set." Minerva said and Rodolphus started reading again while Bill started spluttering at the second name.

**_"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."_**

**_My dad needs me._**

**_Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. _**

The demigods avoided everyone's gazes, they were used to it and it was not that their parents didn't try to make up for that now.

**_Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me._**

"Stupid law." the demigods said while Molly got a new look from her husband.

**_I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"_**

**_"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."_**

**_I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too._**

**_"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."_**

**_"Check," Chiron said._**

**_"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."_**

**_"Check."_**

**_"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."_**

**_"That's about right."_**

**_I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts._**

Rodolphus shook his head again, but continued with the reading, the chapter would be over soon anyway.

**_"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly._**

**_"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."_**

**_"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."_**

Both Dean and Zacharias nodded, their poor brother.

**_He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."_**

**_I felt so relieved I wanted to cry,though I didn't think that would be very heroic._**

"No it isn't heroic, it shows that you are human." Lavender said shrugging.

**_Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months._**

Most people looked sad at this, but felt glad that it will change.

**_I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me._**

**_"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."_**

**_"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."_**

**_"Where?"_**

**_Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."_**

There was a shocked silence at this which was broken when suddenly Petunia Drusley jumped up from her seat and pointed an accusing finger at her husband, Dudley only stared at the book wide eyes.

"Vernon Dursley, you will not drag our family this summer to a place which hosts the Land of he Dead under it! Did I make myself clear?" Petunia asked in a sharp tone.

"Yes dear." Vernon said carefully while Harry and his friends watched the whole exchange in amusement.

**_"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"_**

"NO!" come the panicked yells which confused most people, but Sirius and Remus and suddenly remembered Snape's vehement refusal to take part in Flying and when he did he seemed to be always either praying or stay close to the ground.

**_"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"_**

**_I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash._**

**_"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."_**

"This actually goes for the children of both of his brothers." Minerva said a which many paled.

"Wait, but professor Snape refereed by my Quidditch game in first year." Harry said suddenly.

"Yes, after he spent half a day making sacrifices and praying to Zeus to let him fly for a short time, the only way he would be allowed to be in the sky without harm is when he rides a Thestral because they are natural ground as are pegasi for Percy." Minerva explained to her soon ex-student.

"I'm now kind of feeling bad for teasing him about being bad at flying." Sirius whispered to Remus, he would be also terrified from flying on a broom is he had an uncle who would only all too much love to grill him with a lightning bolt the moment he sets of.

**_Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed._**

**_"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."_**

**_"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."_**

**_"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"_**

There were some snickers from the demigods.

**_The air shimmered behind Chiron._**

**_Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket._**

**_"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon,_**

"And again we see how that ended." Poppy said smiling.

**_but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."_**

**_"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"_**

**_Her cheeks colored._**

Cue more snickers.

**_"Do you want my help or not?"_**

**_The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get._**

**_"A trio," I said. "That'll work."_**

At this travelled many eyes to the now blushing Golden Trio while the Weasley twins remembered fondly how good of a prankster trio they had been with Lee.

"Looking back, we would have also had it better as only a trio." Sirius whispered gravely to Remus who nodded, maybe then they would have been spared from being betrayed by one they had called a friend.

**_"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."_**

**_Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather._**

**_"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."_**

"This was the end of the chapter." Rodolphus said as he passed the book over to his niece.

_To be continued… _


	11. Well, that started well

A/N: so here is a new chapter for all those who like this story. I saw that a good deal of people asked if I plan to bring in the original demigods so till now nothing is sure except that at the beginning of the _Son of Neptune_ will both Nico and Hazel make an appearance in the company of a God with whom they had been on a small quest-errand. Other demigods as said are not sure and in the case of the Gods there might be a chance for Apollo or Hermes to make an appearance for a three or four chapter, it all depends on which line my planning lands seeing how most of my story ideas are like a labyrinth each path showing another possibility for a happening.

P.S.: sorry if there should be lines which seem strange, my insomnia kicked in so I have not slept since thirty-two hours and I'm doing this in parallel writing to the Kane Chronicles reading fic, meaning I switch between the writing of the stories.

* * *

XI. Well, that started well

After getting the book flipped Tonks over to the next chapter, she didn't mind reading because it would kind of keep her jumbled together thoughts about all these new information's at bay, as well in the case of her two uncles who were now acting like totally different people. Or maybe were they at the moment like they truly are? She could not be sure, but she would dwell on this a bit later, there were still six books left to give her time, really and here she thought that she would have the most headache because she was starting to find Remus hot.

**_I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus_**

Many students blinked at this in confusion while the demigods leaned a bit closer, of course have they heard about Percy's first quest, but still now they could get all the details.

**_It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me._**

**_The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money _**

"The strawberry farming goes pretty well and usually when you go to a quest you don't need to pay that loan back." Theo said with a shrug while some of their school mates were still staring at them in shock.

**_and twenty golden drachmas._**

"Are those like galleons?" asked one of the Ravenclaws, but before anyone could answer Tonks gasped.

"I kind of doubt it that they have much to do with galleons, beside being out of gold and even that fact can be ignored when comparing." she said, no wonder her uncles didn't mind spending their wizarding money if they had those.

**_These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies_**

One could actually hear the jaws hitting the table by all those who were not demigods or Andromeda who remembered Lucius once showing her a drachma.

"But they were according to history books made out of silver." Hermione spoke up as she got out of her stupor.

"It gets explained right in the next sentence." Tonks informed her and started reading again.

**_and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold_**_._

_A good deal of kids looked jealous at this while others looked at the demigods with newfound interest, this of course made them feel kind of uncomfortable and happy that they will get soon out of here._

_"__It are the Roman demigods who use denarii, which are made out of silver our weapons on the other hand." Minerva said as she took out her wand and threw it in the air. The students, staff and visitors watched in amazement when it turned into a double edged, long sword with a pattern on the blade which looked like the slender branches of a tree, the guard and hilt were in the form of an owl with spread wings, but what caught the attention the most was that the whole sword was made out of gold. "The material you see is called Imperial Gold and only we use them for the forging of our weapons we use against monsters, our Greek siblings use another metal which will be mentioned this chapter while there is a third type of metal, something mostly used by Lord Pluto and his family, your professor included. It is called Stygian Iron, a midnight black metal which sucks the life out of anyone touching it, of course if they are not the Lord of the Underworld or his children and descendants or a few other exceptions like Lord Thanatos the actual Death God." Minerva finished explaining to the now kind of frightened looking wizards before throwing her sword, Owl Wing into the air to let it return to its wand form. "Miss Tonks, please continue." _

_"__Wha…ah, yes of course professor." Tonks said after catching herself._

_"__Great, he has a weapon which is like a mix between a Dementor and the Killing Curse." Sirius whispered to Remus, before asking in a scarred tone. "Moony, how come that I'm still alive?" _

_"__I don't like to bring it up, but it could be because of…of Regulus." Remus said carefully, his friend didn't answer, but his silence told him that he was thinking the same. _

**_Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant._**

"He will find out one and in the next book another one." Pansy said.

"Though the second one is kind of topping a whole day tour with the Knight Bus." Dean said snickering; the Gray Sisters were a terror to travel with.

"How can it be worse then the Knight Bus?" Ron blurted out unbelievingly while all those who had even once taken it nodded their heads in agreement.

"You will see." was the only reply they got.

"I'm starting to hate this sentence." Hermione mumbled, she hated not knowing.

**_He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally._**

Everyone shuddered at the reminder.

**_Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom. She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored,_**

"With Percy? Never." chorused all the demigods who knew him.

"Another thing you have in common with that guy Harry." Ron whispered to his friend as he tried not to remember their misadventures, it was still a wonder that they were still alive or sane.

**_and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector_**_._

"Our weapons can't be detected by those mortal devices." Rodolphus replied calmly, if the metal detectors could pick up on their weapons then would a few security guards have heart attacks if they ask an Ares kid to put out every weapon they have on themselves.

**_Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes._**

"Agreed." those who have heard Grover play those two on his pipes said.

**_We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus._**

Many bowed their heads in remembrance of the girl, even the demigods seeing that there was no need to spoil the big event at the end of the next book.

**_Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security._**

"With all those eyes is it no wonder." said Marietta from beside her best friend, she was still kind of worried about Cho who had since the Underworld had been mentioned a strange look in her eyes.

"I'm sure Lucius could give you all some positive accounts on him." Andromeda spoke up with a small smile before deciding to elaborate. "As you know, Mr. Malfoy's mother is Lady Hera, the Queen of Heavens" there were a good deal of nods and a similar number of scowls at the reminder "he had been a loyal servant to her and for that had Lady Hera always thought fondly of him." she explained when there could a soft thunder be heard in the sky before it become a harsh rumbling.

"I think he Queen may have remembered what her husband let be done to him." Sirius said while looking up at the sky as both Dean and Zacharias shifted in their seats, the first murder of the new godly order had been committed by their father at the orders of Zeus. Their dad still felt horrible about that.

"I think we should continue." Poppy said while turning her gaze away from the sky.

**_He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck._**

**_"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."_**

"Ugh…that was a bad pun if I heard one." Rodolphus said before looking over at the two Hermes boys.

"The Stolls are already at it." Zacharias called over when he noticed the gaze.

**_I heard footsteps behind us._**

**_Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes._**

Many looked confused at that while a pair of brothers scowled.

**_"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you." Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around._**

"Not anymore and I still wonder what you were thinking mom." Lavender called out to the sky, receiving a small thunder as her answer.

"Could you please stop that, it is freaky." Ron told the girl who only raised an eyebrow at him.

"You know that this is kind of hypocritical seeing that I'm only talking to my mom like you do, with some differences." she replied back to the redhead while resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

**_"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."_**

"Gee, I wonder why?" asked Pansy in a tight tone, reading these books ripped open old wounds which had not enough time to heal properly before new ones were added.

**_He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal. _**

**_Luke said,"Maia!"_**

"Wasn't that the name of Lord Hermes's mother?" Narcissa asked, she decided to head her family's example and to use formal terms when talking about the Gods.

"Yes, that had been her name." Andromeda replied.

"Cool." was all Tonks could say as she hurriedly read on.

**_White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared._**

"That is bloody brilliant." Fred and George exclaimed and added them to their list, these books will make their shop rock even more.

**_"Awesome!" Grover said._**

**_Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad._**

"More like you dumped them in a shoe box and pushed it under your bunk." Zacharias mumbled, their dad had not long ago sent each of his kids a pair and they all had found pretty much use for them.

**_I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days._**

"He had other reasons for the resentment." Rodolphus mumbled under his breath while wondering if he should go outside and look if Lucius had managed to calm Severus down, though remembering some incidents when the son of Pluto lost his temper…maybe after the chapter.

**_But here he was giving me a magic gift... It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth._**

The demigods face-palmed at this while the wizards were not sure if they should stare at the book with raised eyebrows or laugh.

**_"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."_**

**_"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"_**

This made the sons of Hermes snort, right they were sure that at that time had their brother meant the last part of the sentence the other way around.

"Dean…" Seamus started, he wanted to know what was wrong with his best friend, half-god or not, but Lavender held up her hand.

"Let him, these books are opening to many wounds which had no time to heal before the second war was upon us, we all are still healing." she told Seamus in a soft tone as both Hermione and Parvati bit back a gasp when they noticed just how much older the girl in front of them looked, then fifteen years.

**_We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-by" hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out._**

There were a few snickers at this.

**_After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."_**

**_"Am not."_**

**_"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"_**

"She did." the demigods who had been part of the winning team on that night admitted.

**_"Oh... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"_**

"It would take us a whole week to list your reasoning's." Theo said in an amused tone, one look at their sister and one can immediately tell that she is head over heels for Percy, and he is certainly the perfect guy whom they can allow around their sister.

**_She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys._**

**_I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"_**

The demigods nodded their heads at this.

"Then why did he give them to Percy, this makes no sense if he knows that he can't go in the air." Hermione said while racking her brain to put all the clues together.

"You will see."

"Ugh…I really hate this answer." Ginny groaned.

**_He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy._**

Dean, Zacharias, Rodolphus and Pansy found their mouths covered by the hand of the one sitting beside them before they could even comment.

**_But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."_**

**_I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"_**

**_His eyes lit up. "Me?"_**

**_Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch._**

**_"Maia!"he shouted._**

"This is going to be rather, amusing." Theo said, he had heard about Grover having this incident, but hearing it in detail will be even more amusing, he liked the satyr, but still and the way Tonks was having a hard time controlling her laughter so that she could read indicated that it will be good.

**_He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos._**

**_"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"_**

**_"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van._**

At this broke the whole hall out into hysterical laughter as they imagined the trouble the poor satyr had gotten himself into, the muggleborns were even more amused seeing how they knew what a lawn mower was.

It took the hall almost five minutes to calm down enough so that Tonks could continue reading, but she still had tears of mirth in the corner of her eyes and one could also still hear one or two stray snickers.

"I love this guy's comparisons." George told his brother who nodded eagerly, who knew that reading could be this interesting.

**_Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."_**

The demigods all nodded.

**_"That's okay. I just wish—"_**

**_I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap._**

**_"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."_**

**_He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents._**

"Didn't he throw a similar pen to him in the museum?" Percy asked with a small frown on his face, it certainly sounded the same.

"Now that you mention it Perce." Charlie said seeing how Bill was partly still contemplating the things he had heard last chapter about the House of Life.

**_"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."_**

**_I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?_**

**_I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand._**

"The only sword which works for him." Pansy said remembering just how much Percy had done with that blade.

**_"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me._**

"The third book will do it for Chiron." Poppy said in a controlled tone, she had meet her aunt's Hunters and Zoe had been in her option a lovely girl, but at least now was she finally at peace in both Elysium and with her beloved stars.

**_"Its name is Anaklusmos."_**

**_"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily._**

Everyone nodded who wanted to ask what that meant.

**_"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary,_**

The demigods nodded their heads, but inside they still felt a twinge of bitterness because there had been heroes who saw risking that they hurt mortals as the only way to make a difference, while the wizards felt kind of relieved that they would not go at them with their weapons.

"Huh?" Tonks asked in a stunned tone as she read a bit further before looking at her uncle. "That must really suck." she told him before reading out lout what made her say that.

**_of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."_**

The wizards and witches looked at this with raised eyebrows at the book, waiting for Tonks to continue.

**_I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" How could it not?_**

**_"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. _**

"Reassuring guy." Harry mumbled while by the staff table looked Dudley really interested, these books certainly sounded to him like one of his favourite online games.

**_But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill._**

"I'm, not sure if I should now feel relieved or insulted." Rolanda told professor Sprout who was facing the same dilemma, like a good deal of the hall.

"Be happy about it." Sybill said while looking at them "This facts keeps most monsters from also attacking you." Fine, this one sounded better.

**_"Okay, that's extremely cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"_**

**_Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."_**

**_"Mist?"_**

**_"Yes. Read The Iliad. It's full of references to the stuff._**

The mouths of many muggleborns dropped at this and made plans to re-read it, but this time more carefully. They already knew that the mentioned Gods in it are real, but they wanted to know how the true battle looked.

**_And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are twice as vulnerable."_**

The demigods nodded bitterly at this while the others looked at them wide eyed.

"Great powers also carry great weaknesses with them." Amelia said, remembering what Regulus had once told her, the more powerful you get the more your weaknesses grow with you.

"Wise words Madamm Bones." Dumbledore said, he himself had also noted this on both himself and Gellert at that time, he still felt strange at the thought that the man had been a brother to Severus.

"Hope Voldemort's weaknesses make him fall soon." Harry mumbled to himself.

**_"Good to know."_**

**_"Now recap the pen."_**

**_I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school._**

**_"You can't," Chiron said._**

**_"Can't what?"_**

**_"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."_**

Flitwick was now even more determined to ask Minerva and Severus if he could study these charms while at the same time exchanged both Kingsley and Moody a glance with each other, such a charm would come into handy for the aurors.

**_I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass._**

**_"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."_**

**_Sure enough, the pen was there._**

There were a good deal of awed glances at the book, this was pretty useful.

**_Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans._**

"So it is kind of more like a confundus charm then oblivation or a combination of them." Kingsley mused, but whatever it was, it was a pretty powerful thing.

**_You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."_**

All the demigods nodded their heads at this while again felt the others not sure if they should be offended or not, but they needed to admit that it would cause a great panic if people knew about their world and it would be only worse if they find out the truth behind the myths.

**_I put Riptide back in my pocket._**

**_For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.)_**

"Though now the Hecate cabin is working with the Hephaestus cabin or privately designed magical ones which don't have this side effect." Theo said.

"But then how do you cover communication with each other over a distance, you can't always go looking for a pay phone." Dudley found himself asking, much to his own and the surprise of others.

"We have another way which will be in the book." Theo told him while Ron turned to a slightly gaping Harry.

"Mate, I think being here and before that the meeting with the Dementor kind of broke your cousin." he told his best friend who was still to stunned to answer.

**_"Chiron ..." I said. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time before them, right?"_**

The demigods shuddered and groaned at this, they had nearly found out first hand.

**_"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age,_**

"Which certainly is a misnomer!" the demigods called, they saw with their own eyes how some of the Titans were, the good ones were fine, but the others.

**_which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."_**

**_"So what was it like ... before the gods?"_**

The mood continued to darken.

**_Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge._**

The Ravenclaws and Hermione looked scandalised at this while some looked dreamily as the demigods stared with bitter smiles at the table.

**_But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment._**

There were many horrified gasps at this from the wizards.

"Looks like someone had read a few mythology books." Harry said bitterly, Voldemort didn't care about human life and saw most as insects.

**_It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall._**

"Nothing new there if it comes to our paranoid King." come suddenly Lucius's voice as the door of the Great Hall opened and the blonde walked inside with Professor Snape, but as they did so, a good deal of people gasped at how they looked. Hair somewhat in disarray, their clothes ripped on more then one place, somewhat also dirty and of course they had light scratches of both hands and faces.

"Seems you two had fun while we were busy reading." Minerva said with a fake-annoyed look.

"We know that you prefer the bow more ten the sword Min, so we thought that we would let you in the presence of books." Severus replied back with a grin before looking over the still wide eyed student body and his colleagues. "Please, as if you had never seen two men who have spent the past half an hour sparring with swords." the professor replied with a familiar sneer while he made his way back to the staff table with a snickering Lucius at his side.

"Continue Miss Tonks." Minerva said while shaking her head at her friends.

**_Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."_**

"Kind of warmed up a bit too much." Rodolphus whispered with a small snicker to both Lucius and Severus before Sybill hit him on the back of his head.

"Pervert." she told him when he gave her a confused look.

**_"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up everything, right?"_**

The fact that the demigods avoided the wizards questioning gazes didn't reassure them about the answer.

**_Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. They still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive._**

This made everyone shiver, an enemy who can't be killed, thirsting for revenge. Not that You-Know-Who wasn't like this, but at least had they no confirmation that he was a God, or a demigod, just the legacy of one from really long ago. Beside that, no one could imagine ever seeing him wiht a bow and arrows or using sunlight.

**_May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."_**

The demigods nodded at this solemnly while their friends looked at them worriedly as some started grasping who had been the first enemy.

**_"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."_**

**_"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."_**

"That will not exactly help in relaxing." Charity said blinking, if she would have ever been given this sentence she would have run and gone into hiding.

**_"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."_**

"That I doubt." someone said.

**_When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur._**

There were a few weak snickers at the last sentence.

**_Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy._**

Many muggleborns and some half-bloods nodded their heads at this, it was just like when they leave the magical world, everything seems just so unreal to them.

**_I found myself staring at every McDonald's, every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall. _**

**_"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."_**

**_She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."_**

**_"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"_**

**_"I don't hate you."_**

**_"Could've fooled me."_**

The demigods snickered, Lavender looked annoyed while the wizards looked a bit confused.

**_She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."_**

**_"Why?"_**

**_She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful._**

"Technically had she only been his lover and not girlfriend and well the results Lady Athena caused were not good." Dean said while both Minerva and Theo were a bit lost with agreeing with the sight of their mother or agree with Dean, they decided to do that the next chapter when they will be sick from worry for Annabeth.

"What did she do?" a Huffelpuff asked.

"Next chapter." Pansy answered while by the staff table the Black cousins flinched before looking sick at the thought of someone meting that creature.

**_Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."_**

"At that time only a certain amount of people knew how to make good use from salt water." Minerva said, it was not easy for a child of the Wisdom Goddess to admit that her rival's gift had been useful.

**_"They must really like olives." _**

There were some snickers at this.

**_"Oh, forget it."_**

**_"Now, if she'd invented pizza—that I could understand."_**

**_"I said, forget it!"_**

**_In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me._**

Lavender bit her lip at so much obliviousness, but refrained from commenting, they are together now and that was all that matters.

**_Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain._**

**_Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?_**

**_I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice._**

"They both had." Hannah growled as everyone glared at the book.

**_Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets, _****_then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot._**

Many of the adults nodded in approval at this, at least were they not just put out and left there to figure out how to proceed.

**_I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her._**

Cue growls and threats.

**_Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"_**

**_I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"_**

**_"Just your emotions." He shrugged."Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that._**

**_You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"_**

**_I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me._**

"Nothing much." come it from the demigods.

**_"Your mom married Gabe for you," Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."_**

**_"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"_**

Everyone broke out laughing about this and took another five minutes to calm down.

**_"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod._**

No one was sure if they should now feel sick or slightly offended that some creatures thought that the human smell is bad.

**_As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago._**

**_Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."_**

"Having heard about that sorry excuse of a man I would say that this knowledge will do quiet that opposite of making him feel better." Amelia said, if she had read that boy's character right then he would feel more saddened that his mother endured years of hardship with such a person because of him.

"She is certainly an admirable person." Kingsley said while the students kind of understood now why McGonagall said that if she would have been a witch that she would have made a good Hufflepuff.

**_It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it._**

Amelia nodded her head, she had been right.

**_I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone._**

**_I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest._**

"They had guessed it." Theo said with a shrug.

**_The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble._**

**_The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check._**

Molly opened her mouth to say how right she had been when everyone noticed from the windows how the water of the Black Lake seemed to move on its own, creating threatening waves which seemed to try reaching the castle, so she keep quiet.

"That was not something he could de, beside that your mother would have not accepted." Minerva said, she had already by their first meeting seen that Sally was an independent woman. "She is one of those type of people who wish to go their own path and to try solving their problems alone." the student nodded at this, some of them glancing at Harry.

**_He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done._**

**_All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly and Hades was going to give her back._**

The demigods shook their heads at this fondly while the others were looking at the book with interest, mostly those who wished to return a loved one.

**_You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, the Oracle whispered in my mind. You will fail to save what matters most in the end._**

**_Shut up, I told it._**

"Why did he hear the Oracle?" Padma asked curiously.

"Our father's Oracle serves as a guide, she also reminds you when you start straying from the path you need to walk." Luna explained dreamily, those two lines had been the most important ones of that prophecy.

**_The rain kept coming down._**

**_We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable._**

**_She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself._**

**_The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all._**

Everyone laughed at this.

**_Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up._**

The laughter continued.

**_Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas._**

**_"What is it?" I asked._**

**_"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."_**

**_But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too._**

"Good instincts." Moody grunted, he doubted that the title was meant as a joke.

**_I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our back packs. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh._**

**_As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee._**

**_"Percy."_**

**_An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat_****.**

**_It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face._**

Everyone tensed at this in worry.

**_I scrunched down in my seat._**

**_Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers._**

"I highly doubt that Alecto,Tisiphone and Megaera would feel offended by this." Severus said with a raised eyebrow.

**_They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves._**

Moody nodded his head again in approval, why was it so hard to get aurors like that?

**_The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."_**

**_"I said if you're lucky," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."_**

"That much is certain."

**_"All three of them," Grover whimpered."Di immortales!"_**

**_"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. _**

"That, on the other hand they would take as a compliment." Severus added in while the students looked at him fearfully.

**_No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."_**

**_"They don't open," Grover moaned._**

"Ugh…my ears are still ringing from the Hephaestus cabin's indignant yells about faulty works." Dean said flinching, it had taken them twenty minutes to calm them down.

**_"A back exit?" she suggested._**

**_There wasn't one. _**

"Is it even possible to have so much bad luck?" asked a shocked Rolanda Hooch.

"If you are Percy, then yes." the demigods answered in union.

**_Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel._**

**_"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"_**

**_"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."_**

**_"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"_**

"Or giving you flowers." Theo suggested which didn't help ease the tension in the hall, well he was no Stoll.

**_She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"_**

**_We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain._**

**_Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."_**

**_"So do I," said the second sister._**

**_"So do I," said the third sister._**

Some blinked at that excuse in confusion, but were to nervous and worried to ask.

**_They all started coming down the aisle._**

**_"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."_**

**_"What?"_**

**_"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."_**

"She suggested that to the wrong person." Hannah said with a fond smile on her lips, Percy was always there when you needed him.

**_"But you guys—"_**

**_"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."_**

**_"I can't just leave you."_**

"He is a loyal person." Andromeda said while looking over at Lucius who nodded his head in agreement.

**_"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"_**

**_My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on._**

**_When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore._**

**_I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past._**

**_Mrs. Dodds stopped, _**

The wizards tensed in worry.

**_sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding._**

As was that of those listening to the book.

**_Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going._**

**_I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row._**

Both Theo and Minerva flinched, Annabeth was fine, but they still didn't like hearing about their sister being in danger.

**_The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—_**

Severus shook his head, he was now starting to understand even more why his father could not make a rhyme out of that boy and his skill to offend and stay alive after it.

**_but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips._**

**_The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"_**

"It?" some people asked in confusion, but of course there was no answer.

**_The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw something, all right._**

"I wonder what gave that away." Pansy asked sarcastically, Percy was sometimes stating the obvious like it surprised him.

**_"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"_**

**_The Furies raised their whips._**

Pansy grabed Theo's hand while by the staff table did Severus the same with Minerva.

**_Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it._**

**_What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year._**

Everyone leaned closer wanting to know what he did as for those who knew, they nodded their heads in agreement.

**_The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror._**

**_Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows._**

**_"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"_**

**_We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, and throwing sparks a mile behind us._**

"That is really dangerous." Hermione gasped, but was ignored.

**_We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins._**

"Also, I need to stat that according to my father was this highly similar to the way Miss Parkinson's father usually drives." Poppy said while all eyes turned to a grinning Pansy.

**_Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river._**

**_Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake._**

**_The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass._**

"At least were there no innocent bystanders." Charlie said in a relieved tone, but he was still worried about the three still on the bus.

**_The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans._**

**_I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"_**

Everyone was to tense to comment.

**_The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test._**

There were a few forced snickers at this while the muggleborns weakly explained that it was like getting a T.

**_Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather._**

Many gasped at this in shock.

**_Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards._**

**_"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."_**

"Even the Athena cabin had lost count about how many times he had heard this sentence or another form of it." Theo admitted while many of the wizards stared at him in shock.

**_"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her._**

"Nico prefers her more as a lawyer, but I think that is because he is not a fan of math." Severus said with a shrug, he liked math classes with Alecto.

**_She growled._**

**_Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening._**

**_I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword._**

**_The Furies hesitated._**

"She had warned them about it." Severus explained.

**_Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again._**

Many people raised an eyebrow at this, who would like to see the weapon that killed them?

**_"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."_**

**_"Nice try," I told her._**

**_"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried._**

**_Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me._**

Everyone tensed again in worry for the trio.

**_My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands._**

People flinched as they remembered that it was a flaming whip.

**_"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"_**

Even more flinches, but the Griffins needed to admit that it had been a brave thing to do.

**_The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata._**

**_Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down._**

**_"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"_**

"In the case of the first, it still didn't happen as for the second, everyone dies one day if their time is over." Lucius said in a calm tone, as a demigod one kind of gets content with the thought of dying, seeing how you will meet up with family.

Suddenly Tonks laughed again when she saw the next line.

**_"Braccas meas vescimini!" I yelled._**

This of course made the hall break out laughing for the upcoming five minutes.

**_I wasn't sure where the Latin came from._**

**_I think it meant "Eat my pants!"_**

"It did." Minerva said.

**_Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck._**

**_"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement._**

**_We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword._**

**_"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"_**

**_BOOOOOM!_**

**_The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof,_**

The demigods glared up at the sky while the wizards let out relieved sighs that no one had been on the bus at that time.

**_but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead._**

**_"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"_**

**_We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead._**

"This was the end of the chapter." Tonks said as she passed the book to her father.

_To be continued…_


	12. Someone get a blindfold!

A/N: so here is the new chapter and again I would like to make something clear…**Nico and Hazel **_**WILL BE THE ONLY**_** ones to come in as demigods, from the Gods there will be Thanatos, Hades and Apollo, **_**NO ONE ELSE**_**, well beside a side-guest who is neither demigod nor God! **Sorry for the bold letters, but I noticed by my three Riordan reading fics that people seem to ignore what I write in my Author's notes and it is getting tiresome to read the same question almost after every update…well not exactly by the Kane Chronicles fic, seeing how people seem to not wish to comment on it which is not motivating for me to write and post up _any _fics seeing how I have started on my second book and could work on that instead of these stories.

* * *

XII. Someone get a blindfold!

After getting the book from his daughter looked Ted Tonks down at the title, he was since the mentioning that in this chapter they will see what the mother of one of his old teachers had turned a woman, who had disgraced her, into had he tried to remember that myth, but to no veil. Though seeing how his wife, sister-in-law and their cousin have reacted, they will sadly know so it was slightly good that he didn't remember.

_"__**We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium"**_…on the other hand, he slowly started to remember.

"Ugh…poor guys, they go to a place which sells gnomes?" Ron said shuddering.

"Ronald, the gnomes muggles use in their gardens are not alive like in the wizarding world, they are made out of clay, stone some even out of wood." Hermione explained to the other who only stared at her blankly.

"Why would muggles put them out in their gardens?" he asked.

"Decoration." was her simply reply, her grandmother had also like two or three in her garden.

"Weird." Ron replied, he would never get muggles.

_**In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong.**_

"Soo true Perce." the demigods said in union.

"But aren't they your parents and relatives?" asked Padma Patil by the Ravenclaw table.

"Of course, but you see there are many arguments going on in the family and well some of our parents are kind of married so let's say you are a kid of Lord Zeus, it is a given that Lady Hera will send something or someone after you, Lady Demeter is not a fan for Lord Hades for marrying her daughter so she might send on occasions something after you, Lady Athena has most of the time trouble getting along with Lords Ares and Poseidon, Lady Aphrodite is in constant war with Lady Artemis and so on, it is quiet the messy situation and so they may try to subtly make you getting a quest done harder. Beside that, you already saw some problems going on here, one gets used to it seeing that sometimes was it much worse in the ancient times." Rodolphus replied with a careless shrug as the Black cousins remembered some examples while some of the wizards looked outraged, but wisely did not voice their thoughts out loud.

_**For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck;**_

People nodded their heads, that would be their logical thought while some were trying to not look at Harry who tried not to remember some of his bad luck phases.

_**when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day.**_

"Now if you put it like that…" Neville said, being a demigod sounded really bad.

_**So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses.**_

_**Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror.**_

Rodolphus glared at the sky at this, he found the new Lord of the Wild more than pleasant so his grandfather playing around with him like that annoyed him.

_**"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."**_

_**I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."**_

"It would have been better if you took the other direction or didn't go that far." Theo said in a worried tone while Pansy was still gripping his hand which earned her some curious gazes from her friends.

"You remember what we said last chapter regards what his mother did back in the past and his sister is on the way to meet the result of her mother's fury?" Pansy stated at which both Draco and Blaize paled, with the former placing his hand on his friend's shoulder, now kind of nephew, this was still too weird for Draco to comprehend.

_**"All our money was back there," I reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."**_

Many flinched and looked worried at this, how would they manage to get to Los Angeles in time if they had noting?

_**"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"**_

"Annabeth." both her siblings said in exasperation, she knew that without help would she have been at that time gone to meet her grand-uncle in his realm.

"Is she of her rocker?" Ron asked in shock, but recoiled by the dark looks he was getting from both Dean and Lavender.

"She would have you handicapped in a matter of seconds for such a comment, her siblings included." Lavender said as the redhead made a hurried glance towards the Slytherin table and at his Head of House to make sure that neither of them heard.

_**"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"**_

_**"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."**_

"Hubris." Minerva said sighing; she was glad that Percy was with her.

"Huh?" asked some of the students.

"Heroes tend to have a fatal flaw to them which as the name indicates can get them killed," many looked uncomfortable at this, mostly Harry who kind of was proclaimed as a hero no matter if he wanted it or not "sometimes our flaw can match with that of our godly parent, in the case of our mother's children is this flaw hubris, meaning pride. We are proud about our knowledge and thus don't accept assistance from others which in some cases can get us killed if it gets proven that out planning had been faulty." Minerva explained in a sad tone, it had happened before with some of her older half-siblings, they had lost their lives through their pride.

"Knowledge as ironic it may sound is not always all-knowing." Theo said with a weak smile as he remembered second year when he wanted to find out what monster was petrifying people and Pansy needed to literally knock some sense into him.

The others only nodded carefully while some of the Ravenclaws and Hermione looked stuck between feeling offended and being in disbelief that knowledge was not the answer to everything.

_**"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."**_

_**"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth.**_

_**Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."**_

There were a few snickers at Grover's comment.

_**We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry.**_

Everyone wrinkled their noses at hearing this or at least those who had been near such a pile of laundry, so a good deal of the school's male population.

_**After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."**_

"It surely was." said a Hufflepuff student, she was not sure if she could have turned back or run away in terror, probably the later.

_**"We're a team, right?"**_

The demigods snorted at this making the wizards stare at them in confusion.

"They are almost unbeatable when they work together as a team." Pansy told them, they had a good balance in their skills and in the understanding of the others intentions.

"So they are a well-balanced team" Moody said while the demigods nodded their heads "that is good, not many get that done well maybe after long years of working together almost every day, but even then it doesn't work all the time." he really needed more aurors who could actually be called aurors and not kindergarteners or worse…politicians.

_**She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."**_

"Ugh…this reminds me why it is so hard to date a kid from the brainiac cabin." Rodolphus said while ducking a hit from Minerva as by the Slytherin table Theo blushed crimson and tried not to look at the table next to theirs.

"I have you know that we are not hard to date." Minerva scoffed at her friend while the students looked unsure and kept glancing at Hermione and some at the blue-bronze table.

"Well, it took these two five years to get on a date." the son of Dionysus pointed out before turning to the Gryffindor table. "Beside that, I heard about another kid of a goddess who decided to try his chances with one of your siblings Min." at this Lavender nodded her head.

"Well, till now are both my brother Mitchell and Malcolm fine, beside some little differences that is, not that most people here would find that strange." Lavender replied with a shrug while Harry looked at her in shock, some of the muggleborns did the same just like Dudley, uncle Vernon looked more appalled at the thought of two men together, the only ground Petunia didn't react was because she knew at least some things about myths and the wizarding world.

"You have a brother who is dating another guy?" Harry asked her incredulously before noticing that Ron, Ginny, Seamus, Neville and Parvati were all looking at him before Hermione explained.

"Harry, dating men in the wizarding world is not unheard of it happens not always, but it occurs and according to the myths were most gods not picky in the case of they lovers." Hermione explained to her friend who stared at her blinking, he really need to look things up to spare himself some shocks.

"Our father had quiet the number of male lovers beside the female ones, why do you think the hyacinth flower is there?" Poppy asked nonchalantly as some people paled.

"At least you didn't tell them how the mint plant come to be." Rodolphus leaned over to her while she shook her head.

"And have them refuse to clean they teeth?" she asked the other before motioning to Ted that he should continue.

_**The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair.**_

_**"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her.**_

"Well, if you are a year-rounder there are some short field trips beside the quest option, but that is it from what I heard from Nico, the Roman demigods leave even more rarely their camp or New Rome." Severus said with a shrug while others looked at the demigods in surprise, they could not imagine living confined for so long, but seeing how they get attacked by monsters they kind of understood their sentiments.

_**"No ... only short field trips. My dad—"**_

Both Theo and Minerva tried not to scowl, things were fine now between their sister and her mortal parent, they reminded themselves.

_**"The history professor."**_

_**"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home." **_

_**She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her.**_

_**"At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."**_

_**If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice.**_

"Percy is good at detecting the little things so he probably heard right." Smith said.

_**"You're pretty good with that knife," I said.**_

_**"You think so?"**_

_**"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."**_

_**I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled.**_

Some of the girls smiled at this.

_**"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."**_

_**Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill toot-toot-toot, like the sound of an owl being tortured.**_

"WHAT!" yelled both Minerva and Theo, they kind of forgot that Grover had been back then terrible with the reed pipes.

"The owl is the sacred animal of their mother." Hannah explained and people started suddenly remembering that when the post come the owls strangely all tried to make a deep line in the direction both McGonagall and Nott sat, now they kind of knew why and could only hope that their mother doesn't take offence in the fact that her sacred animal being used to carry their post.

_**"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried.**_

"He can't be that terrible." gasped a fourth year muggleborn Ravenclaw who had once been taken to a reed pipe concert by his parents.

"Believe us, he can." Dean called over with a slight shudder, he had once been taking a nap on a tree when Grover decided to practice and he crashed down thinking that the camp got attacked by something large and dying.

_**"If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"**_

"Huh?" most occupants of the hall asked.

"Woodland magic, it can only be used if you are a nature spirit, the song if played right would help the listener find the path they should be heading on." Theo explained while the others still looked shocked. "Please, the magic we learn here is only a small branch, there are tons of other types of magic out there the Hecate kids could show you some more powerful spells against which Fiendfire would look like as if someone would have lighted a match" there were some gasp of horror from those who knew that Fiendfire was "and don't get me started on the Egyptian magicians in the House of Life, seeing how most spells and magic types branched from their Ancient Lands." he finished before waving that the reading could continue before someone asks a stupid question.

_**He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff.**_

_**Instead of finding a path, I immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on my head.**_

The demigods snickered at this while the wizards were still mulling over the comment Theo made not long ago, well except Dumbledore who looked again at his two Heads of Houses who were defiantly glaring at him with looks clearly stating: _'We will not speak with the House on your behalf, get your asses moving and solve your own problems like wizards and not cowards!' _

_**Add to the list of superpowers I did not have: infrared vision.**_

"Of course not, to have a good sight in the dark you would need to be either a child of Lord Hades/Pluto, his two daughters or son, Lord Thanatos, Lady Nyx, Lord Hypnos, Lord Morpheus or any other of the three other dream gods, I think even Lord Erebus and Lord Tartaros would go." Lucius said while counting the gods on his fingers as students looked again fearfully at Snape, no wonder he could so easily catch people out after curfew and why he volunteered so often to go.

_**After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, **_

_**I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. **_

"This is why one pays the Hermes cabin to get on occasions unhealthy things; it does no harm with our usual diet." Rodolphus said with a shrug while some of the students, mostly Ron, stared in horror at the book.

"How can one be full with that as food?" he asked the demigods in horror who all looked back at him with raised eyebrows.

"One can get full with less food, it also doesn't make you bloated or tired to work after eating." Hannah replied back to the still scandalised looking Weasley.

"First they burn a part of their food and then that." he said while the demigods and some of the wizards rolled their eyes at him.

_**We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell.**_

"Why would anyone have an open shop in a completely deserted area?" asked professor Sprout in a confused voice.

"It is definitely not normal." Minerva said sighing; sadly she knew that it was too late both had smelled the enchanted food.

_**It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for me to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English.**_

_**To me, it looked like:**_

At this Ted stopped reading and looked over to both his old professor and brothers-in-laws with a dark expression.

"If this is what you see when trying to read then you have my respect to not have a phobia from anything with letters on it that is not the language you are hardwired for." he said before starting the hard task to try reading out loud what stood in the next line.

_**ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM**_

"What?" a good deal of people asked in confusion.

"This is what stands there." Ted said in a defensive tone before continuing while the others who were not demigods still looked confused.

_**"What the heck does that say?" I asked.**_

_**"I don't know," Annabeth said.**_

_**She loved reading so much, I'd forgotten she was dyslexic, too.**_

"It is not easy." Theo agreed, at least he had a spell to make the text change to ancient Greek or he would be in for much headache and frustration.

_**Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."**_

"Ugh…I would go crazy having dyslexia." whimpered one of the Ravenclaws before looking admiringly at Luna who sat only five people away in the opposite line, the rest of their House was doing the same.

_**Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken.**_

The demigods shuddered while the pureblood wizards looked slightly weirded out by the image.

_**I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers.**_

_**"Hey ..." Grover warned.**_

_**"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."**_

Some people started looking suspiciously at the book, something didn't seem right with the situation and the look on the demigods faces didn't help their nerves.

_**"Snack bar," I said wistfully.**_

_**"Snack bar," she agreed.**_

"I don't like the sound of this." Tonks said, her auror instincts, which sounded suspiciously like a mini Moody in her head, were screaming at her that something was not alright.

"Unfortunately are you right Miss Tonks, they are under a heavy enchantment especially made for demigods." Poppy said in a tight tone, Percy really had a knack for finding monsters who have some relation to him through his family.

"This is not good at all." Professor Sinistra said.

"You can say that again Aurora." Severus said as he contemplated if he should give Minerva a calming draught or keep it for later use, at least will they not be forced to read about Annabeth looking for her mother's statue, that would end with the two children of the wisdom goddess receiving an overdose of the draught.

_**"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."**_

_**We ignored him.**_

The tension was slowly raising again.

_**The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps.**_

Not many knew why, but this sent shivers down their spines, the demigods bowed their heads for the satyr while the Black cousins felt their fears confirmed about where they were and which monster would come, oh the irony of the whole situation.

_**"Bla-ha-ha!" he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"**_

"I really don't like this comment." an ashen faced Neville said weakly.

"None of us does Nev." Seamus said in a similar tone, he really didn't like hearing about his best friend's world, it sounded to dangerous for his liking even as a Gryffindor.

_**We stopped at the warehouse door.**_

_**"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."**_

_**"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him.**_

"Definitively a strong enchantment, probably placed in the food and given their weary state it could get even a better hold on them, emotions like fear and panic or exhaustion after a life threatening situation can make the mind more vulnerable for such things." Poppy explained to the wizards, some nodding their heads carefully.

"You are pretty good at this." Moody complimented the Mediwitch who smiled back at him.

"I needed to be if I wanted to survive this long." she replied back as some of her colleagues flinched at the way she said that sentence, like when someone speaks about the weather and not one's life.

_**"All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"**_

_**"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."**_

_**"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him.**_

"For satyrs those also count as vegetables." Rodolphus said shrugging; one accepts it after a while mostly if your father is technically their Lord after the disappearance of their original Master.

"How can one…" but Hermione was interrupted as Ted continued to read, he kind of guessed that she would not get an answer anyway.

_**"Those are vegetables. Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me."**_

_**Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, I assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady.**_

"Really far back in the past." Lucius said while Minerva's eyes darkened.

_**Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"**_

"They will need a good lie to wind this." Fred said while looking at his twin, but they had not much hope when they saw Tonk's dad shake his head in disbelief.

_**"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say.**_

_**"We're orphans," I said.**_

_**"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth.**_

"Why?" Colin Creevy asked curiously.

"She saw Annabeth's eyes, Percy's looks and Grover is from her world so fake feet would not fool her." Sybill said in a grave tone while others shifted nervously in their seats.

"So, she is the one who…" Charlie started carefully, he didn't like the feeling of dread in his stomach.

"Yes, she was the one cursed by our mother." Minerva said while above them thunder rumbled.

_**"But, my dears! Surely not!"**_

_**"We got separated from our caravan," I said. "Our circus caravan.**_

All pranksters groaned at this, there was no way any sane person would believe that, but seeing how this was someone who wanted revenge they would accept anything, but still this was a terrible plan.

_**The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"**_

And now were all pranksters resisting the urge to bang their heads against the table they were sitting at.

_**"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."**_

"I still wonder if she was really that desperate for revenge or she just remembered that Lord Poseidon is also this bad at coming up with immediate excuses?" whispered Lucius to Severus who looked back at the other after making sure that Minerva was still paying attention to the book.

"It might be a combination of both." he answered back.

_**We thanked her and went inside.**_

_**Annabeth muttered to me, "Circus caravan?"**_

_**"Always have a strategy, right?"**_

_**"Your head is full of kelp."**_

"Not the moment for pet-names." Dean said in a nervous tone, he knew that they will be fine and also he heard the story, but not in detail or from Percy's point of view, he could be to describing. At least the good note is that she still didn't reform herself so they would be fine from that monster for a while.

_**The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-size.**_

No one liked the feeling of dread which suddenly washed over them.

_**But mostly, I was thinking about food.**_

_**Go ahead, call me an idiot for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry,**_

"With that what happened a few minutes ago and the enchantment on the food is it only normal." Dean said hoping that they would soon reach the part when they snap out of it.

_**but I do impulsive stuff sometimes. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair—it made everything else go away.**_

"This confirms that it is really the food." Remus said, he was sure that many people would not manage to resist that, but seeing that all three seemed to be still around and the world was not destroyed this meant that they would eventually overcome it.

"I'm getting hungry." Ron groaned as some of the others glared at him.

"Those three are in danger and you think about food, we ate not long ago." Hermione told him, she could not believe this.

"They will be fine, there are a good deal of books and one can never have enough food." Ron defended his case while the two demigods at their table looked at him with disgust, only partly managing to hold themselves back from pulling out their wands, seeing how they weapons would not work on him, magic or not these people were still normal mortals nothing more.

_**I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us.**_

Everyone was nervously fidgeting in their seats.

"He is really a good observer that even under a strong enchantment he notices these small details." Kingsley said, in the past war had he encountered some victims of the Imperious curse, most didn't seem to remember what had happened, the same went for those who had been given certain controlling potions, this had made the hunt for those responsible really hard.

_**All I cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front.**_

_**"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said.**_

_**"Awesome," I said.**_

_**"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."**_

_**Before I could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."**_

_**"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said.**_

_**Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, **_

Both Theo and Minerva glared at the book.

"Well, she is has her mother's eyes at it seems so in her option she did." Sirius said carefully, but covered under the glare his old Head of House was giving him.

_**but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination.**_

"Unfortunately not." the demigods said weakly.

_**"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said.**_

"Monsters always seem to know our names." the demigods groaned while others shuddered.

_**"You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."**_

_**Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves.**_

"Monster." was again the demigods reply while Narcissa tried not to whimper as she imagined how much her own husband had probably gone through, and she thought him joining the Death Eaters, though now she knew the true reason, had been bad enough.

_**Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries.**_

Ron did not know what those were, but they sounded delicious in his option, but no one seemed at the moment to share his sentiments about food.

_**I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe.**_

_**Annabeth slurped her shake.**_

_**Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat.**_

"He had a perfectly good ground for that." Pansy said while still holding Theo's hand who was now trembling.

_**"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.**_

All those who had already been at the school when the Basilisk attacked went immediately rigid in their seats.

_**I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head.**_

_**"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."**_

_**"I take vitamins. For my ears."**_

"And he is also still bad at that." George pointed out sorrowfully in an attempt to draw out a bit of humour, but it didn't help.

_**"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."**_

_**Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her head dress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, **_

"Believe me, you are happier when you don't see it." Lucius said while beside him Severus tensed when Minerva tightened her grip on his hand.

_**but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess.**_

"Then do it in the way of the Ares cabin!" some of the demigods yelled while the wizards looked at them confused so Pansy explained.

"Easy, we are better at small talk when we have our weapons out and are fighting with either an imaginative opponent or our talking partner." she explained as by the Ravenclaw table Boot let out a frightened yelp, he was still scared of her.

_**"So, you sell gnomes," I said, trying to sound interested.**_

_**"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."**_

_**"A lot of business on this road?"**_

_**"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built... most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."**_

"The first time that I find something which destroys nature a good thing." Hannah said while the demigods nodded bitterly, she was getting less victims through this.

"Huh?" asked Justin in slight confusion.

"Less victims for her." she replied to the pale boy.

_**My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. **_

_**The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues.**_

_**But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified.**_

Some of the muggleborns let out horrified gasps as they finally remembered the myth regards a monster who could turn people into stone, it was a terrifying thought that she truly exists.

"I will never again look at a garden statue the same way again." whimpered a sixth year Hufflepuff whose grandmother was obsessed with those, just like everyone else in her gardening group.

"This is worse then the Basilisk." come it from another student as the others looked even more scarred.

"I really don't like the reactions." said Ginny, what could be worse then what she had went through in the Chamber?

_**"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."**_

"Gee, I wonder why." Sirius asked sarcastically, he was really feeling awful that Reg not only needed to grow up in one of the darkest times of the wizarding world, but be also part of a world filled with so many dangers and he was never there for him.

_**"You make these statues yourself?" I asked.**_

"Unfortunately." come it from all those who knew what she was.

_**"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.**_

"Percy is the only one who could feel sorry for a monster, and yes there are a few good ones out there, but she is not one of them." Lavender said, Tyson was adorable, Mrs. O'Leary a true cutie leave alone Bessie, Ella was sweet, but most of the other monsters were not like them.

"So, there are ones who don't wish to kill you?" Sirius spoke up while looking at the demigods.

"Yes, book two till four will introduce three of them and the last book will have a fourth in it." she answered back.

_**Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"**_

_**"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, **_

"She was not jealous!" yelled both children of said 'bad woman' while angry thunder, like the shriek of an agitated owl flashed through the sky making the wizards stare up with pale faces.

_**long ago, when I was young.I had a... a boyfriend, **_

"Lover." the demigods corrected, there was a difference between those two terms, beside that she had been mostly the revenge for the lost patronship for Athens.

_**you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart.**_

"Because the temple of a Maiden Goddess is not the place for coupling." Minerva snapped, she may not agree with what type of monster her mother had made the other into, but she would not accept disrespect.

_**She caused a terrible accident.**_

"If you call a curse a 'terrible accident' then the gods were quiet accident prone in their days." Lucius said with a dark chuckle as his wife and in-laws flinched as they remembered some such curses, the others only shuddered by the implication not wanting to know how it may look if a god curses you, but they will soon.

_**My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away.**_

The wizards shuddered as they remembered what large impact the word 'fade' truly held in that world.

_**alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."**_

_**I wasn't sure what she meant, but I felt bad for her.**_

_**My eyelids kept getting heavier, my full stomach making me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?**_

"I really wish she would have used a more tamer curse or even done that what Lady Persephone does and changed her into a plant." Lavender said shuddering.

_**"Percy?" Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."**_

_**She sounded tense. I wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn't say anything.**_

"They are from the same world so she would not find it strange." Smith said hoping that they will be over with the chapter soon.

_**"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."**_

The other two with similar eyes let out low growls at this which made some back away from them.

_**She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly.**_

"Don't touch my sister!" come the two angry yells.

_**"We really should go."**_

_**"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"**_

_**I didn't want to leave. I felt full and content. Aunty Em was so nice. I wanted to stay with her a while.**_

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" screamed a good deal of people.

_**"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"**_

_**"A pose?" Annabeth asked warily.**_

_**"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."**_

_**Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"**_

_**"Sure we can," I said.**_

_**I was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who'd just fed us for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"**_

"Gah! Someone really should have let him watch the orientation's movie or put in a longer update of monsters!" yelled a frustrated Pansy.

_**"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."**_

_**I could tell Annabeth didn't like it, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door, into the garden of statues.**_

No one liked how ominous that sentence suddenly sounded.

_**Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. **_

_**"Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."**_

_**"Not much light for a photo," I remarked.**_

_**"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"**_

The first years whimpered while others who knew what she was looked close to become sick.

_**"Where's your camera?" Grover asked.**_

_**Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"**_

_**Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."**_

_**"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."**_

The tension started to turn suffocating as everyone fixated their nervous looks at the book.

_**She still had no camera in her hands.**_

_**"Percy—" Annabeth said.**_

_**Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, **_

"Good lad, listen to your instincts." Moody said approvingly.

_**but I was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice.**_

_**"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil..."**_

_**"Percy, something's wrong," Annabeth insisted.**_

_**"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"**_

_**"That is Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped.**_

Some of the wizards also gasped, not understanding how that was possible while those who knew looked down grimly.

_**"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and me both off the bench.**_

_**I was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet.**_

_**I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But I was too dazed to move.**_

Cue groans.

_**Then I heard a strange, rasping sound above me. My eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails.**_

_**I almost looked higher, but somewhere off to my left Annabeth screamed, "No! Don't!"**_

_**More rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above me, from ... from about where Aunty Em's head would be.**_

"Oh Merlin." Hermione gasped in horror, she started to dimly remember the myth.

"I think…I'm going to be sick." Seamus announced looking already green in the face.

_**"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, "Maia!" to kick-start his flying sneakers.**_

_**I couldn't move. I stared at Aunty Em's gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put me in.**_

"Good," Tonks said nervously, "fight the trance."

_**"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."**_

_**I fought the urge to obey. Instead I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens— a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents.**_

Many of the wizard looked pale at this.

_**Aunty Em.**_

_**Aunty "M."**_

_**How could I have been so stupid?**_

_**Think, I told myself. How did Medusa die in the myth?**_

"Please remember." Charity said with her hands clasped together in front of her.

_**But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus.**_

"Ugh…that is just as a bad irony then him meeting the monster one of his half-brother's defeated." Charlie said, feeling sorry for the boy.

_**She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face.**_

_**"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."**_

"As said, the curse went a bit overboard with the powers." Dean said, there was not thunder from above.

_**"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Percy!"**_

_**"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."**_

Both Theo and Minerva growled at this while Harry felt kind of glad that whatever grudge Snape had against his dad, he never took the taking revenge thing to this level like that thing.

_**"No," I muttered. I tried to make my legs move.**_

_**"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."**_

"It is sometimes the pain which makes us stronger, but if nothing more the fact that we can feel pain is a proof that we are human." Luna spoke up in her dreamy voice, the other demigods nodding in agreement to her words.

"So, Voldemort is past being human." Harry mumbled to himself as he remembered his two encounters with him here at the school.

_**"Percy!" Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive.**_

No one snickered at this, the tension was still to high.

_**Grover yelled, "Duck!"**_

_**I turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone.**_

_**"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"**_

_**That finally jolted me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he'd miss Medusa and nail me.**_

"He is so confident in his friend." Harry said while the demigods snickered.

"He kind of was right, we once had a baseball game in camp against the Romans, Egyptians and the Hunters and Grover really nailed him by accident and something similar happened back when they were still at Yanci's." Dean said snickering at the memory.

"Oh…then alright if he is actually speaking from experience." there was nothing one could change on that, for example he would never again sit in a flying car and drive to school with Ron, he learned from that lesson.

_**I dove to one side.**_

_**Thwack!**_

_**At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage.**_

People cheered at this.

_**"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"**_

_**"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back.**_

_**I scrambled away and hid in the statuary while Grover swooped down for another pass.**_

_**Ker-whack!**_

_**"Arrgh!" Medusa yelled, her snake-hair hissing and spitting.**_

_**Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said, "Percy!"**_

_**I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!"**_

"Well, she will do that, but not Nico." Dean snickered as he remembered witnessing when Nico once got back to camp right beside Percy and the poor guy jumped in fright and crashed into a tree.

"Isn't he Professor Snape's brother?" Hermione asked while beside her Harry and Ron shuddered at the thought, it was enough to know that Grindelwald was related to their hated professor together with Hitler.

"Yep he is." the other replied, Nico was an ok kid and he had been a great help in both of the wars, without his help they would have probably lost.

_**Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."**_

The wizards looked appealed at this while the demigods nodded their heads.

_**"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here."**_

_**"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. **_

_**"But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance."**_

_**"What? I can't—"**_

_**"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"**_

_**She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster.**_

"That was a low blow to get him to do it." Zacharias said while by the red-gold table was his brother calming down and sad Lavender.

_**Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "A polished shield would be better." **_

_**She studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"**_

She had lost a good deal of the hall after the first sentence.

"As said, brainiacs." Rodolphus mumbled under his breath.

_**"Would you speak English?"**_

_**"I am!" She tossed me the glass ball.**_

_**"Just look at her in the glass. Never look at her directly."**_

_**"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"**_

_**"Roooaaarrr!"**_

"Or not." Bill said faintly.

_**"Maybe not," Grover corrected. **_

_**He went in for another pass with the tree branch.**_

_**"Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."**_

_**I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand.**_

_**I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair.**_

_**I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing. Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her.**_

_**Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"**_

Everyone flinched at this, that experience had to hurt while both Harry and Ron remembered their crash into the wall and then their first meeting with the Whooping Willow.

_**Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "Hey!"**_

_**I advanced on her, which wasn't easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, I'd have a hard time defending myself.**_

_**But she let me approach—twenty feet, ten feet.**_

"Why…why is she allowing him to come so close…?" asked Parvati in a faint tone.

"She kind of still had feelings for Lord Poseidon and as you heard it already in the third chapter he is like a younger copy of his father." Lavender said not knowing if she should gush about this of feel somewhat disgusted or even sad. It was not easy being a child of the love goddess.

"Ugh…good for him." Seamus said.

_**I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasn't really that ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse.**_

"I fear that it was more the other way around." Lucius said while many let out disgusted sounds.

"Lovely to know." Sirius mumbled to himself.

_**"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."**_

_**I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass—the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making my arms go weak.**_

_**From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!"**_

_**Medusa cackled. "Too late."**_

_**She lunged at me with her talons.**_

_**I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening shlock!, then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating.**_

_**Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces.**_

A good deal of disgusted sounds filled the room and some even rushed out to the nearest bathroom. They got back ten minutes later and Ted could continue, luckily would the chapter be over soon.

_**"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."**_

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement to that statement.

_**Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."**_

_**Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice.**_

"His second spoil of war from a major monster." Pansy said.

"Ugh…I could live without that thing." Ginny said with a disgusted look on her face, how one could even touch that thing, no matter in what it was.

_**"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling.**_

_**"Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. **_

Many who were still feeling faint nodded in agreement.

_**"Why didn't ... why didn't the head evaporate?"**_

_**"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."**_

"I think…I really liked the Basilisk better." Harry mumbled to Hermione, at least there was a cure to help those who got petrified and it lost its powers after being blinded and killed.

_**Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. **_

_**He had a big welt on his forehead. His green Rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head.**_

"Poor thing, that really had to hurt." Madam Hooch said, she guessed this was like being hit in the head by a Bulgler.

_**"The Red Baron," I said. "Good job, man."**_

"Who?" asked some of the purebloods, but before anyone could reply Pansy took over the word, a grin on her lips.

_"_Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron due to him painting his plane a red colour and Freiherr in a way standing for the royal rank of baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service known as _Luftstreitkräfte_ during World War I. He is considered the top ace of that war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories and he was of course also a son of Ares." she explained proudly while again some people looked at her warily.

_**He managed a bashful grin. "That really was not fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bear? Not fun."**_

"Agreed."

_**He snatched his shoes out of the air. I recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse.**_

_**We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. **_

"Good, it is still dangerous so it needs to be handled with caution." Moody said as he tried not to remember an incident two years ago where two aurors had not gotten the memo and ended up in St Mungos for a month, apparently Kingsley and Tonks did the same by the way they flinched.

_**We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak.**_

_**Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"**_

_**Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad.**_

"Technically, it was still your mother who created her." Lucius said while Minerva glared at him, but knew that he was right.

_**You probably reminded her of him."**_

_**My face was burning. "Oh, so now it's my fault we met Medusa."**_

_**Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"**_

_**"Forget it," I said. "You're impossible."**_

_**"You're insufferable."**_

_**"You're—"**_

"Five years, five long maddening years of this…" Lavender groaned while the others started to slowly back away from her.

"You say that this is normal?" Seamus asked warily.

"Yep." was Dean's only reply, he had seen worse reactions during those five years.

_**"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even get migraines.**_

The demigods only shrugged at the questioning gazes they received.

_**What are we going to do with the head?"**_

Now on the other hand were the demigods trying really hard not to grin.

"I'm not sure if they expressions now mean something good or bad." Harry whispered to him friends who nodded nervously.

_**I stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!**_

_**I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice.**_

_**What had Medusa said?**_

_**Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue.**_

_**I got up. "I'll be back."**_

"What is he doing?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Something no one has dared before and gotten away with it." Lavender said while shaking her head, only Percy.

"It kind of become an anecdote on man parties after that and except grandfather and partly mother most others of the council finds it more then amusing." Theo explained.

"Dad showed us the vid about it, it was hilarious." Dean sais as both him and Zacharias shared an amused grin, the following thunderings like many people speaking at the same time didn't wait long to come.

"You will see soon."

_**"Percy," Annabeth called after me. "What are you—"**_

_**I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. **_

"Technically is it my step-mother's garden and you will soon see why those statues fit there." Severus replied to the shocked looking wizards, really these reactions started to be more pathetic then Longbottom's reactions to him during Potions.

**_According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket._**

"Good idea," Moody said approvingly while Severus allowed himself a little mile at the address of his father.

"I will really have some problems looking at American movies the same way as before." a muggleborns whispered while by the staff table was Petunia muttering about how the will never go even near Los Angeles as long as she lives.

"That would explain all those zombie movies." Dudley mumbled to himself.

_**In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express,**_

The sons of said god started grinning.

_**each with a little leather bag attached for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box.**_

_**I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:**_

Ted suddenly stopped reading and looked up incredulously at the demigods.

"He really did this?" he asked in shock when there was again the sound of thunderings.

"I think the gods just gave their reply." Rodolphus aid to his brother-in-law who stared up gaping at the sky.

"Th…thank you my Lords, Ladies…" he said carefully.

_**The Gods**_

_**Mount Olympus**_

_**600th Floor,**_

_**Empire State Building**_

_**New York, NY**_

_**With best wishes,**_

_**PERCY JACKSON**_

Everyone, beside the laughing demigods and amused looking Moody, were to shocked or horrified to comment on the just read which indicated for Ted that he can finish the little part which remained from the chapter.

_**"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."**_

"Well, most of them find it funny now and as for the second, he is." Dean said grinning, the others were till to shocked to react.

_**I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a pop!**_

_**"I am impertinent," I said.**_

The demigods nodded at the confirmation.

_**I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize.**_

_**She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods.**_

"He's a natural at that." chorused the demigods grinning as the wizards started to slowly regain thei senses again.

_**"Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."**_

"Andi." Ted called to his wife and handed her the book.

_To be continued…_


	13. Poodles and high jumps

A/N: so here is just like the Kane Chronicles reading fic going to be a double-issue like chapter. Also I'm kind of bored from answering the same reviews over and over again so I will address it here, if you ignore it and still ask me then this is your problem. By the last chapter had Charlie spoken about two things, firstly how ironic he finds it that Percy is now facing the same monster his namesake had faced just some time after he had already fought a monster that his brother Theseus had fought.

* * *

XIII. Poodles and high jumps

"The next chapter is called…" Andromeda suddenly stopped and raised an eyebrow, but continued. "_**We Get Advice from a Poodle"**_

"Huh?" come a good deal of confused questions from around the hall, but Andromeda ignored them.

_**We were pretty miserable that night.**_

"Who would not?" asked Angelina, no sane person would not be shaken by that what had happened to those three.

_**We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties.**_

The demigods had suddenly scowls on their faces while Dudley looked uncomfortable; he knew how such sites looked.

_**The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.**_

Yes, they looked like that, the others meanwhile were warily glancing at the demigods who were muttering angrily.

"What is with you?" Ron asked the two closest demigods in confusion.

"All this destruction to the wild." they replied darkly, mostly Dean who had lost his brother because of this, he was not happy that he will hear about how he faded.

_**We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.**_

There were many sounds of agreement to that statement, they also had enough.

"Please tell me that they don't get attacked again." Sprout pleaded to her friend, could she still call Minerva a friend or would the woman sever all bonds here?

"I think tonight they won't get attacked anymore." Minerva told the other, noting the mixed feelings on the other's face.

"That is good to hear." Flitwick said with a sigh of relief, those are the age where your problems should be school work and friends and not life and death fights against monsters while you try to prevent a war.

_**We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.**_

Moody and the other aurors nodded approvingly.

_**Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground.**_

The other demigods snickered.

"That is inheritable." Severus snickered, scarring a good deal of students that he could do that, while Minerva wacked him over the head.

"To your information, I don't snore." she huffed angrily, but the son of Pluto continued to look amused, the three of them were all in the second cohort, he had heard her enough times snoring.

_**Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.**_

_**"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."**_

_**He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."**_

_**"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"**_

_**"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."**_

"Not only for satyrs, all the nature spirits." Poppy said sighing.

"It is sad, great-grandmother Nyx is not pleased with it either, all her children and grandchildren bemourn the night sky." Luna said in a sad tone, she liked living with her step-daddy in the country because there she can at least pertly see the night sky better.

"It is disgusting what the mortals do in the name of making things better in their option, personally I think it is only to make life for them more comfortable while they destroy everything." Lucius growled in disgust, demigods could manage to live together with nature, but most mortals couldn't.

"But there are people who try to make things better." Hermione put in, but she only received dark looks.

"Miss Granger, do you know how long it takes for a tree to grow tall? Cities expand as the population grows, forests get murdered in masses to get material or farmland, creatures were driven into extension because of their flesh, fur or because they attempted to kill the farmer's animals because their own hunting grounds were destroyed, the nature as it was is no more and can never be the same again, the lost can't be brought back." Severus said in a grave tone before gesturing to Andromeda that she should continue.

_**"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."**_

_**He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. **_

"Technically, we are only part human." Theo said.

_**At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."**_

"Your brother?" Justin asked Smith who nodded his head sadly, his poor brother, the other demigods also looked saddened.

_**"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"**_

"Percy!" the demigods exclaimed, but were a bit relieved when they saw the sons of Hermes have small smiles on their lips.

"Hermione, what is a cooking spray?" Neville asked the bushy haired girl.

"It is a spray form of an oil as a lubricant, lecithin as an emulsifier, and a propellant such as food-grade alcohol, nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide or propane. Cooking spray is applied to frying pans and other cookware to prevent food from sticking. Traditionally, cooks used butter, shortening, or oils poured or rubbed on cookware. Most cooking sprays have less food energy per serving than an application of vegetable oil, because they are applied in a much thinner layer: US regulations allow many to be labelled "zero-calorie"; in the UK sprays claim to supply "less than 1 calorie per serving". Popular US brands include Pam and Crisco. Sprays are available with plain vegetable oil, butter and olive oil flavour. Cooking spray has other culinary uses besides cooking proper. Sticky candies such as Mike and Ike that are often sold in bulk vending machines may be sprayed with cooking spray to keep them from sticking together in the machines. Coating the inside of a measuring cup with the spray allows sticky substances such as honey to pour out more easily. Vegetables may be sprayed before seasoning to make the seasonings stick better." she explained while even Harry had a blank look on his face and he even had at least a clue about what some of those word meant.

_**"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"**_

_**A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rain water, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.**_

The demigods had bitter similes on their lips while even some wizards looked saddened.

_**"Tell me about the search," I said.**_

_**Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.**_

"Percy would never intentionally make fun out of someone." Hannah said with a soft smile.

_**"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me.**_

There was a rumbling sound from the sky, but it sounded faint, like someone sighing in sadness.

"It must have been bad if your child disappears for so long." Narcissa said in a sad tone, she would go mad from worry if Draco would just disappear.

_**"A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it.**_

Andromeda remembered this story, it had always made her sad in a way and now hearing it from those who are bound to that god, it made her even sadder and angry, she could see why the demigods looked so angry.

_**They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since.**_

The wizards looked uncomfortable.

_**But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died.**_

"It had been this loyalty still binding him to this world for to millennia." Rodolphus said with a dark smile.

"A loyalty worthy to a Hufflepuff." Sprout told Rolanda who nodded her head in agreement.

_**In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."**_

The wizards listened while Dudley squirmed in his seat, maybe beside trying to do something for his health and stop being a bully, he could also do at least a bit for the nature.

_**"And you want to be a searcher."**_

_**"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"**_

_**"Oh, right, sorry."**_

_**Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."**_

A sudden, uncomfortable silence fell over everyone as they turned with panicked looks to the demigods.

"You will know what had happened to them in the second book, they had no chance to escape." Rodolphus said bitterly, he had been outraged when finding out what had happened to those satyrs.

The wizards continued to look nervous.

_**"Hang on—the first?"**_

"Our sentiments exactly." come it from all around the hall.

_**Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."**_

No one wanted to know what the second book would reveal to them about what had happened to the satyrs.

_**"Not once in two thousand years?"**_

Everyone shuddered.

_**"No."**_

_**"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"**_

_**"None."**_

A new shudder run through everyone.

_**"But you still want to go," I said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"**_

_**"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."**_

"He is really brave and loyal." Tonks noted with a sad smile on her lips.

_**I stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?**_

_**"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"**_

"Hypocrite." the demigods sang, their dark mood brightening somewhat while the others looked at them strangely.

_**"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"**_

_**"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." **_

_**"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life,**_

"Sadly most of us have." Lavender said, sure since the gods left were there not that many monsters in England, but still enough to find demigods and attack them.

_**but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." His voice faltered.**_

_**"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"**_

Some looked curious, but something told them that they will need to wait for the answer.

_**Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.**_

_**"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"**_

Everyone flinched some slowly putting things together.

_**"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."**_

_**"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunder bolt that Hades took."**_

"He did not." Severus growled and Lucius bit back a sigh, he would if needed drag the other out again.

_**"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."**_

"That was considered tame?" asked some horrified students.

"Of course, Alecto herself is one of my father's two lieutenants or in other words seconds in command." Severus said.

"Uh…who is the other one?" Charlie asked carefully.

"The God of Death." he replied nonchalantly while the others paled.

"Grand-uncle Thanatos is really nice." Luna said smiling as others stared at her with shocked eyes.

"We should have known." Bill muttered under his breath.

_**"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."**_

"Can be worse." Severus replied again.

"And you know that from experience Severus?" Remus asked the other carefully.

"They are my father's most loyal servants, they don't mind training with the demigod children of our father, beside math and law classes. I had plenty of training sessions with them." he answered.

_**Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"**_

_**"Asking about me," I said.**_

"Father doesn't tend to threat others as objects." Severus said.

_**"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."**_

_**"That doesn't make sense."**_

Severus had a dark look on his face, he knew what was going on.

_**"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt..." He looked at me like he was hoping for answers, but I didn't have any.**_

"Not misunderstood, but there were parts missing." Poppy said, at least it turned out well, but it all depended on the fact that Severus's father was one of the more decent gods who kept his word.

_**I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods.**_

All demigods glared at Molly Weasley that she should not dare commenting.

_**What lay ahead of me was worse than petrification.**_

Those who had been here in Harry's second year shuddered at the last word.

_**"I haven't been straight with you," I told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."**_

_**Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"**_

_**"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."**_

The demigods snorted at this.

"Oh, yes Percy as if you could leave anyone behind who needs help." Dean said with a snicker, Perce would save a lost kitten if he found one.

"His fatal-flaw is personal loyalty, he would give his own life without hesitation to save that of a friend." Theo explained while some people tried to figure out how loyalty could be a fatal-flaw.

_**Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth.**_

"Child of the wisdom goddess." Rodolphus said while both Minerva and Theo straightened in their seats proudly.

_**I'm not as brave as you.**_

"Grover, you are brave." Lavender said and many nodded in agreement, most of them would have not dared to face that monster.

_**But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. **_

The demigods nodded their heads, their immortal parents were not perfect like people would expect, but they still loved them and were happy that they are there.

_**You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."**_

"He certainly did after that stunt." Sirius snickered as did a few others and the demigods, others on the other hand were still nervous or shocked.

_**"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."**_

_**Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."**_

_**"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."**_

"I think what you did now was brave." Colin said, he remembered learning about myths in grade school not knowing that not only magic was real, but all the Gods he had read about, his parents will not believe this.

_**Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about I take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."**_

_**I wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep.**_

_**In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit.**_

No one liked the sharp intake of breath the demigods took or how pale they had become, their eyes filled with both fear and hate.

_**Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead.**_

Everyone gulped, sure they were around ghosts in the school, one even teached them, but they knew that these were different, these were the souls of those who had passed over to the other side.

_**They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, **_

"Are the ghosts trying to hold him back?" Padma asked herself, there was also the fact that the ghosts could touch him, though it could be because Percy himself was in some kind of a spirit form.

_**but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm.**_

"Don't go near it!" the demigods yelled while the others looked nervous and confused before Sirius let out a horrified gasp.

"I think I'm going to be sick." he said as Narcissa suddenly launched at his arm, shaking.

_**Looking down made me dizzy.**_

_**The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss,**_

Cold dread was washing over the whole hall.

"Why do I not like this sentence?" Ron asked shuddering.

_**something huge and evil.**_

"Got that right." the demigods muttered which made the wizards nervous, somehow You-Know-Who really started to sound less scary then that.

_**The little hero, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do.**_

The first years clung to the older students and even they looked close to panicking, some people even jumped in fright at the panicked yelp that come from both Umbridge and Fudge who fainted again.

_**The voice felt ancient—cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead.**_

"LEAVE HIM ALONE GRANDFATHER/GREAT GRANDFATHER!" the demigods yelled while the wizards stiffened in their seats.

"Kronos…the Titan Lord of Time." Andromeda said faintly, she felt sick, even reading about him filled her with a strange type of instinctive fear.

"Uhm…that is your great-grandfather, the one who ate his children?" Seamus asked the two demigods carefully.

"Yep, he was the ground for the Second Titanomachia or in other words the Second Titan War." Lavender said bitterly, all those siblings she lost, the way he had tormented Silena with guilt till she thought that the only way out and to redeem herself would be her death. She would never forgive Kronos for taking her from them, for causing her so much grief.

"Still think Voldemort is scary?" Dean asked with a bitter grin on his lips before turning back to the book, not even waiting for an answer.

_**They have misled you, boy, it said. Barter with me. I will give you what you want.**_

"HE WILL NEVER SIDE WITH YOU!" screamed the demigods and even some wizards also joined in, they also felt the instinctive dread turning their insides cold.

_**A shimmering image hovered over the void: my mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at me, pleading: Go!**_

"On any other day I would say that this is below the belt, but in this case I fully embrace the idea." Minerva said in a faint tone.

_**I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work.**_

_**Cold laughter echoed from the chasm.**_

_**An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm.**_

The tension was slowly raising and becoming suffocating, mostly for the demigods who knew that in one point in time Percy had fallen into that endless darkness and evil madness that was the Prison of Tartaros.

_**Help me rise, boy. The voice became hungrier.**_

Harry felt close to throwing up, his encounters with Voldemort had been not pleasant and he was suddenly reminded on his talk with a teenage Tom down in the Chamber below.

_**Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!**_

"As if you would be better." Rodolphus hissed as thunder and lightning rolled over the sky, the gods were also not pleased.

_**The spirits of the dead whispered around me, No! Wake!**_

"So I was right, the dead try helping him." Padma said more confidently.

"Lord Hades is a just god who doesn't wish for useless carnage or unjust hurt, he is a fair judge." Luna said to the other girl before looking over at Snape.

_**The image of my mother began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me.**_

_**I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself out.**_

"NO!" the wizards yelled in panic and Andromeda hurried on reading, she hoped that the boy would soon wake up.

_**Good, it murmured. Good.**_

"Not good, not good at all." the others said.

_**Wake! the dead whispered. Wake!**_

"Listen to the dead!" come the panicked yells, as ironic that one sounded.

_**Someone was shaking me.**_

"Finally!"

_**My eyes opened, and it was daylight.**_

_**"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."**_

"Uh…wouldn't that be a child of the Underworld instead of the sea?" asked Dean jokingly.

"Really funny Mr. Thomas, only because we are only slightly warmer as a corpse doesn't mean that we are like zombies." Severus said when he finally noticed the panicked gazes he was receiving. "As said, somewhat warmer then a dead body and not like it, that would be the body temperature of Thanatos's children, this is like the children of Lord Apollo having warmer skin then normal." he finished explaining, he was used to these type of reactions from those not knowing about their world.

"Oookkeeyyy…that is bloody freaky." Ron whispered to a wide eyed Harry, Hermione was still busy figuring out how a body that cold could even function properly, it was not logical or possible.

_**I was trembling from the dream.**_

"Who wouldn't?" asked a few people.

_**I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest.**_

"Accurate description about him." Minerva growled, a monster indeed.

_**"How long was I asleep?"**_

_**"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. **_

There were a few weak snickers at this.

_**"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."**_

Andromeda raised a sceptical eyebrow, she knew for a fact that this was not a natural colour for a dog's fur.

_**My eyes had trouble focusing.**_

_**Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal.**_

_**No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle.**_

"This is animal abuse." come it from the angry animal lovers, with Sirius on the front.

_**The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."**_

"He?" the men asked in horror.

_**I blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"**_

_**The poodle growled.**_

_**"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."**_

_**"You can talk to animals?"**_

"Yes, they can." Minerva confirmed.

_**Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."**_

"This is even worse." Sirius said in disgust, first the poor guy got pink fur thanks to his owners and then that name.

_**I stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but she looked deadly serious.**_

_**"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I said. "Forget it."**_

"We are with you mate." the twins said in union.

_**"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."**_

The demigods snickered at this, so this was when that pattern had started.

_**The poodle growled.**_

_**I said hello to the poodle.**_

Cue more snickers.

_**Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.**_

"That was nice of him." Charity said in a kind tone.

_**"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.**_

_**"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."**_

"Most animals can, but only a small number can use the tongue of humans, and even then it is limited to a few words." Rodolphus explained to the shocked wizards, the two older Dursleys looked frightened at this, even the normal animals were weird.

_**"Of course," I said. "Silly me."**_

_**"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."**_

_**I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West.**_

Everyone shivered at the reminder.

_**"Not another bus," I said warily.**_

_**"No," Annabeth agreed.**_

_**She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon."**_

With that Andromeda handed the book over to Narcissa.

_"__**I Plunge to my Death'.**_" she read carefully.

"To be honest, at the current date will this be his second highest jump, the first one will be in the last book we read." Lucius said in a chatting tone as the wizards gaped at him, but he only motioned to his wife that she should continue.

_**We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.**_

_**We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax.**_

Moody gave a new approving nod at this, they had been two times attacked already, letting their guards down would mean their end.

"If I would have gone through that, I would do the same." come it from a sixth year Gryffindor student.

_**We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain.**_

_**We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax.**_

The demigods growled at this, they knew who was responsible.

_**The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes. My sword was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick.**_

"Sometimes, the mist can be also a real a pain." Pansy said groaning in annoyance.

_**The picture's caption read:**_

_**Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers.**_

Now were also some of the wizards scowling.

_**The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices.**_

Cue loud groans, this was just getting better and better.

"They really can't get a break." Rolanda said while massaging her forehead.

"Not if you are called Percy Jackson." Dean said while shaking his head.

"At least you seem to only be a magnet for a little number of monsters and more for catastrophic situations and Death Eaters." Ron told Harry, he would seriously reconsider being around the other to often if he would attract monsters every second day.

_**His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.**_

People had a hard time to control their language at the mention of that vile muggle.

_**"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure.**_

"They would not be able to hold them in for to long." Theo said, but was still glad that his sister was not caught by moral police.

_**The rest of the day I spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows.**_

_**Once, I spotted a family of centaurs **_

Some of the wizards looked curious at this, sure they had seen the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest, but never females or children.

_**galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch.**_

_**The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. **_

"We are part of the same world, a world people think that we are noting more then myths." Minerva said softly, she had sometimes when still being a student snuck out to the forest and talked with the centaurs, they were more accepting towards the demigods then they were in the case of the wizards.

_**I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines.**_

"Most mortals are ignorant to the mythological world." Rodolphus said with a shrug.

"Seems people get notice our world more often then theirs." Bill whispered to his brother who could only agree with him about this seeing how often their dad was at work.

_**Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a lion,**_

"Ugh…he saw that thing before he fought it two years later?" Pansy asked unbelievingly, she could not decide if that guy was really lucky to have the chance to fight so many important monsters or really unlucky regards the fact that he was not a fan of fighting.

_**except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light.**_

"He will fight the Nemean Lion?" asked an unbelieving Sirius, that boy was really unlucky.

"The what lion?" asked a confused Seamus.

"The Nemean Lion is a monster. It is known for being one of the beasts fought by Hercules as one of his twelve labors. The Nemean Lion is one of the children of the faded Titaness of the moon, Selene, and Zeus, which she bore on request of Hera and fell from the moon so the latter could send it after Hercules. It is also said to have been the son of Echidna and Typhon or the offspring of Orthus and the Chimera. The Nemean Lion was the size of a pick-up truck, with silver claws and golden glittering fur. Its fangs gleamed like stainless steel." Sirius explained before looking over to the demigods.

"Echidna's and Typhon's, after a while some myths got twisted or some gods interfered to make them different for their own gain." Lucius answered, people were doing that also in modern times, mostly the politicians.

_**Then it leaped through the trees and was gone.**_

_**Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I tried not to drool in my sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to me.**_

"So cute, he had already tried to better himself for her even before they dated." Lavender sighed dreamily.

_**Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up.**_

Some snickered at this.

_**Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed.**_

_**"So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"**_

"A good deal of people." the demigods mumbled to themselves happily, but sometimes they would feel happy if Percy would be in less danger because of his help to others.

_**"What do you mean?"**_

_**"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"**_

"Something we all wish to forget." Some of the students and teachers mumbled.

_**I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit.**_

_**But it bothered me so much I finally told her.**_

_**Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."**_

"He does laugh, but only has rarely time for that." Severus said while Lucius noticed the look Narcissa was giving him.

"Uhm…Sev, did you check on the potions in your lab if they need indegriments to be added or stirred?" he asked nervously.

"No, they are fine for two more hours." Severus said with a raised eyebrow. "Narcissa, continue please."

"Erm…Sev I really think that you should check on them." Lucius tried again while others stared to look nervous.

"I will stay, Narcissa." the blonde woman nodded carefully and continued to read, but one could see the nervous glances she was throwing towards her husband and friend.

_**"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"**_

"Just every god with the aspect of death to their being or if someone is good at deceiving others with their lies, also one could get a necromancer." Severus said with a shrug of his shoulder.

_**"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"**_

"A new point that it is not my father."

_**I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something.**_

_**Where is it? Where?**_

_**Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head.**_

There were some snickers at this, but Narcissa took a deep breath and sent a new pleading look to her husband himself took a deep breath, knowing that he would be yelled at for this…and possibly maimed by skeletons, but he had no other choice.

"Sev, uhm…please let's keep to only yelling." he said to the confused demigod before grabbing his arm and disappeared in a gust of wind, only the smell of decay and pomegranate staying behind, together with two or three peacock feathers.

"No one can apperate inside Hogwarts." Hermione said in shock as everyone stared at the empty seats.

"Gods and demigods have a good deal of ways to travel, in our case depending on our godly parent. Lucius used feather travel, Severus can use shadow travel while Sybill and I light travel and it goes so on, not many demigods learn the travelling power of their godly parent, but those who do make good use of it." Poppy explained before gesturing to Narcissa that she can continue, because she was not sure how long Lucius can keep Severus away.

_**Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy.**_

"Uh…I'm kind of start to see why Snape needed to be sent out." Sirius said carefully.

"I'm also happy to not see his reaction to that description." Harry told the others and it seemed that a good deal of people in the hall agreed with him.

"Annabeth had at that time been resentful towards Lord Hades, due to the attack when she was seven; it needs to be taken into account that from all of the gods is Lord Hades one of the more fair ones with him being the final judge of the dead." Poppy explained, not caring that it seemed to have become slightly darker outside.

_**I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time—"**_

_**"This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"**_

Everyone shuddered, not even being able to imagine how a seven years old child must have felt on the day the hill near their camp received its name.

_**Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."**_

_"__She is now over that." Theo said, his sister loved to play with Cerberus. _

_**"What would you do if it was your dad?"**_

Narcissa suddenly stopped reading and looked over at the older demigods.

"They have got over their differences slowly." Minerva told her.

_**"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."**_

A good deal of people flinched at this, most of them could not imagine to say that about their parents.

_**"You're not serious?"**_

_**Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound.**_

"Now she kind of has the Give-me-Percy-Jackson-or-die look, which is kind of more effective then that one." Dean said snickering with the other demigods as the wizards looked a bit weirded out at such a type of possessiveness.

_**"My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said.**_

"Some mortal parents don't react to well to their demigod children, but now that we have New Greece there is a chance to take in those young demigods and let them be raised by their older siblings." Sybill said while her sister glared at Molly, she knew that her sister's patience was thinning and it would not take long for her to call her bow, luckily Arthur seemed to understand the situation and whispered something to his wife.

_**"He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus**_

"That would not be possible to do, the only way would be to make the child into a god and that could not end well because the child could receive a property which would lead to the new good fading as humanity progresses or other troubles with an upset balance." Poppy explained before flashing a glare at Molly. "This is a ground for the rule that a demigod needs to do a great deed before they get the right to receive the gift to become a god."

"Well, this kind of explains it." Padma said thoughtfully, her parents had often talked about balance of powers and different aspects and something told her that this could, no needs to be applied also to the gods.

_**because he was too busy with his work.**_

_Both Minerva and Theo had a hard time not to snort at this, but because Annabeth was getting along better with them, they also need to give them a chance._

_**She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."**_

_"_That a demigod gets raised by their mortal parent is so that the hero learns the values and morals of life, gods are knowledgeable that is true, but for immortals things slip by fast and they see the world with other eyes, they follow different values. Even the human life is most of the time for them only as long as the blink of the eye and because of that they could not teach their demigod children the true meaning of being not only god, but also human." Minerva explained to the wizards who were now starting to understand why the gods didn't take their mortal children to live with them.

_**"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."**_

"Well…in a way can one call our father's sick room that." Sybill said while exchanging glances with her sisters before explaining. "All demigods born by a goddess had been born on Olymphos and then brought down to earth to their mortal father."

"How long does the child stay by their mother?" Sprout asked, but she had a cold feeling in her stomach when Minerva turned to her with a sad smile on her lips.

"Not more then the five seconds it takes to snap their finger's for the cradle to appear and for the assigned wind spirit to appear." Minerva said sighing at which most of the girls looked at them horrified.

"But this is cruel." Katie Bell stated and many girls agreed.

"So are the ancient laws and sadly, this is one which can't be changed though now when the child is brought to New Greece the mother can visit more often." Poppy added in when the sky rumbled again softly, it seemed as if the goddesses would send their agreement.

_**"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind.**_

"Zephyr is a good friend of our mother, he is the one who takes all of her children to their mortal father." Minerva explained while some looked at her and Theo with slightly raised eyebrows. Getting flown by the west wind down in a golden cradle, that was one way to arrive.

_**You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or some thing. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him.**_

"A good deal of them react like that, though those are more problematic who don't know that their partner was a goddess." Lavender said, her dad knew and accepted it, but she knew some kids in other cabins who were not so lucky, till their city had been built were those year-rounders.

"Being a demigod is not easy for either side." Remus said as he looked at the half-gods.

"True, but it is what makes us what we are." Rodolphus replied as he ignored some of the pitying looks they received.

_**When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena.**_

_**He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."**_

Harry, Petunia and Dudley flinched at the reminder of Harry's twelfth birthday which ended in a disaster.

_**I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how.**_

Most of the witches smiled at this softly.

_**"My mom married a really awful guy," I told her."Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."**_

"He is a really nice guy." Parvati smiled while some of the immature guys snickered.

"He is one of the best." Lavender agreed with a small smile of her own.

_**Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much.**_

"Will be explained later on." Theo spoke up, he wanted this part to finally end.

_**"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife—my stepmom—treated me like a freak.**_

Again Harry, Petunia and Dudley flinched with Vernon also included, but that was because the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus and Hagrid were glaring in his direction.

_**She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened—you know, something with monsters—they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.'**_

Again the Dursleys and Harry were reminded on their situation as the glares at the family become more intense so Andromeda touched her sister's arm that she should continue hurriedly.

_**Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."**_

_**"How old were you?"**_

_**"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."**_

A good deal of people flinched at this.

_**"But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."**_

_**"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. **_

"She prayed to our mother for guidance and she heard her." Theo said.

_**I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."**_

_**I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by.**_

_**Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city.**_

Those who knew which monument was meant snickered at the comparison, though there was something to it.

_**"I want to do that," she sighed.**_

_**"What?" I asked.**_

_**"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"**_

The demigods flinched at this.

_**"Only in pictures."**_

_**"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. **_

More flinches, the Second Gigantomachia was still fresh in their minds and now the thought about the Ancient Lands was filled with bittersweet melancholy.

_**I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."**_

"She certainly will do just that." Hannah said happily, Annabeth did a wonderful job on both the home of their parents and on their own.

_**I laughed. "You? An architect?"**_

_**I don't know why, but I found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day.**_

"All of us are ADHD so his thoughts are kind of understandable." Dean said with a shrug, he was still shocked that _they _managed to sit this long without going mad.

_**Her cheeks flushed.**_

_**"Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."**_

"Annabeth Chase, that was below the belt!" the demigods yelled and the wizards needed to flinch at the volume.

"That was almost the same loudness as by mother." Sirius said flinching when he spotted a dazed looking Remus swaying somewhat in his seat. "Uh…are you alright Moony?" he asked the other with a slight worry in his tone.

"Only…a little bit dazed…my ears didn't appreciate the reactions." the werewolf replied weakly as Narcissa continued reading.

_**I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below.**_

_**"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."**_

"That is an understatement." the demigods mumbled.

_**"Can't we work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"**_

"Once." the demigods and the Black cousins spoke up together and Hermione looked annoyed that she was completely out of the loop here in regards of knowing the myths.

_**Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."**_

The demigods nodded their heads while some of the wizards, mostly the purebloods looked weirded out that horses were made out of the crests of waves.

_**"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"**_

_**We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel.**_

_**"I suppose," she said at last.**_

"And so starts one of the most destructive teams against the enemies of our parents and the Western Civilization." Pansy said grinning.

_**We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.**_

_**Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."**_

_**"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."**_

"Why do I have the feeling that this won't end well?" Blaize asked unsurely.

"Because of the title." Draco answered while glancing occasionally at the entrance doors; he was kind of worried about both his father and godfather.

_**"Sightseeing?"**_

_**"The Gateway Arch," she said. **_

"So…he will be jumping from the Arch?" Sally-Ann asked worriedly, she had once visited there, it was pretty high.

"Yep, but as already stated, this was his second highest jump." Dean answered while some people paled.

_**"This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"**_

_**Grover and I exchanged looks.**_

_**I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn't very well let her go alone. Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."**_

"Technically, the snack bar was monster free this time." Zacharias said, unfortunately the lift wasn't.

_**The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay.**_

There were some snickers at this together with some 'Boys and their stomachs' comments.

_**I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover.**_

_**He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Under ground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."**_

_**But something felt wrong to me. I had a feeling we shouldn't be here.**_

"That is a normal feeling the children of my uncle's get, it tells them that they should not dwell into the domain of my father." come suddenly the voice of the Potions Master as he strode inside the hall again and made his way to the head table.

"Severus, where is Lucius?" Minerva asked the other, she knew that he would never hurt his friends…well severely, but still she would feel loads better if she saw the blonde demigod.

"He will be here in a few." Severus replied and as if on cue a disgruntled and throughtfully ruffled Lucius Malfoy entered much to the horror of the students and some of their guests, seeing how he had a skeleton hanging to his leg and was removing skeletal hands from his arm, robe and hair.

"I forgot how annoying and persistent your servants can be." he grumbled while glaring at the smugly looking demigod, not even caring that the others looked still freaked out or that he sent Fudge and Umbridge back under the table, not that poor Neville was not far behind in the case of fainting.

"Freaks, they are worse freaks then those here." Vernon mumbled to himself in shock, he was starting to agree with Petunia, they will not go anywhere near America.

_**"Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"**_

_**Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"**_

_**"Well, Hade—"**_

_**Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"**_

"There are more gods living below then only one." Luna pointed out.

_**"Um, right," I said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"**_

"Not even close to." Severus sneered while Narcissa paled slightly, she had never got a full description about that symbol and knowing that it belonged to Severus's father…they will be spending a lot of time talking after leaving.

_**"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power.**_

"Now one of the two." Rodolphus whispered to Severus seeing that Lucius was still busy fighting against one of the more stubborn hands which finally let go of his hair, but now held onto his nose.

_**I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."**_

_**"He was there?" I asked.**_

"Yes, now at least is that also solved." Severus said in annoyance.

_**She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus **_**—**_**the darkest day of the year.**_

A few people shuddered unwontedly at this.

_**But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true..."**_

All demigods who were in close vicinity by the Battle of Manhattan when Lord Hades arrived shuddered at the memory.

"It certainly is true." they said.

"Fifth book." Lavender said shivering.

_**"It allows him to become darkness,"**_

The wizards' eyes slowly widened.

_**Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. **_

Now that definitely put the invisibility cloaks to shame.

_**And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"**_

"Yes, that would be my father's symbol of power." Severus said smirking at the looks of utter terror on the faces of the students.

"Again, they gave the Dark Lord title to the wrong person." Sirius whispered to Remus.

_**"But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked.**_

"Because he was busy working and solving the problems in his realm." Severus said, his father had rarely free time.

_**Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks.**_

_**"We don't," Grover said.**_

_"__**Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"**_

There were a few snickers at the random topic change, but the wizards and muggle family were still scarred by their new knowledge.

_**I'd almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and I knew I was in trouble. I hate confined places. They make me nuts.**_

_"_The sea doesn't like to be restrained so is his ADHD much worse then by other demigods." Hannah explained, but she was not sure how much the others had paid attention to her words.

_**We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar.**_

The demigods shifted in their seats and this was not because of their ADHD.

_**I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it.**_

"It is too small of a breed for that task." Charity said uneasily, something told her that the dog was not normal and she was not thinking about an Animagus.

_**We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it.**_

_**"No parents?" the fat lady asked us.**_

_**She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp.**_

_**"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."**_

"Good one." George said approvingly.

_**"Oh, the poor darlings."**_

_**The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious.**_

No one liked the feeling of foreboding.

_**I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"**_

_**"No," the lady told me.**_

"I really don't like this." Blaize pointed out.

"It will get worse, the first book was actually the most tame." Theo told the other while Draco paled, he was part of that dangerous world as was his father and grandmother.

_**She smiled, as if that cleared everything up.**_

_**At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air.**_

"How the bloody hell can one top that?" broke out Ginny is shock, the others were also too shocked to reprimand her, namely her father and teachers, well beside the demigod ones.

"Language Miss Weasley and you will see." Minerva told the girl as Lucius finally managed to get the hand off of his person so that he could now work on the skeleton clinging to his leg.

_**I was ready to go pretty quick. Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. **_

_**She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for me the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.**_

_**I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me.**_

Everyone bit back a groan of frustration.

"And here comes the new trouble." Seamus said before turning to Harry. "I don't know which of you has the worst luck." he told the other who had no clue how to respond to that comment.

_**The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."**_

_**"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."**_

_**But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."**_

"Though not by elevator." Pansy said shaking her head while some of the wizards gulped, they had no clue how one could survive such a great fall.

_**Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous,**_

"They knew his luck." Theo said, partly he had always been happy that Annabeth had not been up there, but he knew how much she blamed herself for the upcoming incident because it was her who wanted to see the Arch.

"What did he run in this time?" Sirius asked.

"The source of most heroes problems." Dean said shrugging.

_**but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp.**_

_**Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua.**_

_**I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth.**_

"Forked tongue?" Most said in panic.

_**Wait a minute.**_

_**Forked tongue?**_

Everyone nodded.

_**Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at me.**_

_**"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."**_

_**"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"**_

_**His parents pulled him back.**_

"They did the right thing with not letting their child near that one." Lucius said approvingly as around him the others tensed.

_**The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips.**_

_**"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."**_

_**Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"**_

"Please tell me that she is one of those funny people who call their pets their children." Dudley mumbled to himself, he never liked those rat like little dogs which sounded like a squeaking toy when they barked.

Narcissa suddenly paled and her hands were slightly shaking as she noticed what was standing further there.

_**"Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."**_

"CHIMERA!" screamed those who knew what it was and some of the teachers stared warily at Hagrid who had a dreamy look on his face.

"I think it would be nice to point out that this is a monster which was killed by Percy's older half-brother Bellerophon." Theo added in at which people groaned again.

"That boy has seriously large problems." Rolanda said, and here she thought that Mr. Potter would give the whole staff gray hair, well those who still had their normal hair colour that is.

_**She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were side ways slits, like a reptile's.**_

Everyone looked nervous.

_**The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar.**_

_**The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster.**_

"With a monster so close even the mist has difficulty." Minerva said nervously.

"At least is it a Chimera and he is close to water." Poppy mumbled to herself, she was glad that Will had such a great interest in poisons and told her how this one could be neutralized.

"What has that to do with anything?" Sprout asked in exasperation, that poor boy.

"Chimera poison is a fire attributed poison because it is partly generated from the flames inside the monster, a large amount of water neutralizes and removes it." she explained to her colleague who relaxed slightly.

"So, that jump saved his life?" she asked at which the other nodded. "That is good to know."

"It is, one of my younger brother's with an interest in poisons had explained this to me." Poppy said with a small smile, Will was dedicated to his hobby and now that he admitted it was she often sending him poisons from the magical world and even getting a few antidotes back in return.

_**The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind.**_

"It look's beautiful." Hagrid said not even noticing the unbelieving gazes from the other teachers or the glares he recieved form the demigods.

_** The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS**_

"In any other situation…" George started.

"…this would be hilarious." Fred finished for his brother.

"That monster is trick to kill and the bite is painful." Lucius said in remembrance while his family stared in horror at him after picking up the implication.

"Cissa, please read." Severus told her gently and she followed his instruction, but she was scarred from the thought that her husband was once attacked by such a beast.

**—**_**IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954.**_

"It has an extensions number?" Hermione asked in shock.

"One would be surprised how good perception is down there." Severus said smiling while some of the muggleborns looked a bit jealous.

_**I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword.**_

"Not the time for that." Pansy snapped in frustration, even hearing that for the first time had made her whole cabin groan and a second time does not make it better.

_**My hands were numb. I was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge.**_

The first and now even some of the second years also whimpered, fearing the nightmares that were surely to come.

"I think the troll and even the basilisk were better then that thing." Hermione whimpered, she could not come up with an idea how one could trick out that thing.

"I will forever be glad if Voldemort never used any of these things." Harry said as he ignored the others flinching, he was still firmly clinging to what Dumbledore told him about fearing names while said man was currently again glared on by his two Heads of Houses.

When Mrs. Malfoy let out a small shriek the whole hall turned deadly silent, tension filling the air as she continued in a shaking tone.

_**The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"**_

"Mother of Monsters?" asked a fifth year Hufflepuff in a faint tone while the Black cousins also gasped in horror.

"Yes, in Greek Mythology were her and her husband Typhon the parents of almost all monsters you already read about the Nemean Lion being also mentioned, that is also theirs as well as Cerberus my father's guardian dog, the only monster exceptions are those who had been turned by the gods into monsters." Severus explained while most of the others looked sick at the new knowledge while above them angry thunder rumbled.

_**I stared at her. All I could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"**_

The demigods groaned in despair while the muggleborns explained that there was a small animal in Australia named after her.

"That boy had trouble staying quiet just like you." Remus told Sirius.

"I never spoke back to a monster before, or insulted them." the dog Animagus defended himself.

_**She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage.**_

"I think she doesn't like the comparison." Tonks said nervously, this didn't look all too good.

_**"I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me.**_

"Yup, she doesn't like it." she confirmed.

_**For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"**_

_**The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to leap aside and dodge the bite.**_

_**I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors.**_

_**I couldn't let them get hurt. **_

"He is really selfless." Parvati said with a worried smile, he really reminded her on Harry, but she still could feel that there were large differences between them, so her comparison is not accurate.

_**I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible.**_

"He is good at annoying those he shouldn't." Bill said in a faint tone to Charlie who agreed with him whole heartedly.

_**Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the**__**world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at me.**_

Charlie winced, those types of fire attacks were hard to avoid and left you with severe burns.

_**I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eye brows.**_

There were some sharp intakes of breath.

_**Where I had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges.**_

"That is worse then dragon fire!" Charlie exclaimed in horror, even the Chinese Fireballs breath could not melt metal like that with only one blast, it would take more then ten minutes to manage something close to that destruction.

"I really don't appreciate that info." Ron whimpered before turning to Harry. "Mate, I will definitely not go with you if you should ever decide to go against something like that." he told the black haired wizard.

_**Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument.**_

"The first of many." Dean whispered to Lavender as the thundering continued, the gods seemed really angered about the reminder.

_**Riptide was now a shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck.**_

_**That was my fatal mistake. **_

"DON'T USE THAT WORD!" a good deal of people yelled in panic.

_**The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar.**_

Cue groans and curses.

_**I tried to regain my balance, but I was so worried about defending myself against the fiery lion's mouth, I completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its fangs into my calf.**_

"NO!" everyone screamed and some of the girls had even started crying, no matter if they knew that he would be fine in the end, the things they read had drawn them in, even Pamona forgot what Poppy told her about that poison.

_**My whole leg was on fire. I tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River.**_

_**I managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost. I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out.**_

"It depends on the distance how fast it returns." Theo explained, but he was not sure how many had actually paid him attention, by the sight of it not many.

_**I backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"**_

There were several growls at this comment, but no one interrupted.

_**The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish me off now that I was beaten.**_

_**I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just ... die.**_

"A loyalty and warm heart worthy of Hufflepuff." Sinistra whispered to Charity who nodded her head, her eyes filled with tears.

_**I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head felt dizzy. I had no sword. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared. There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered.**_

"The only way for him to survive." Lavender said.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked in a nervous tone.

"Chimera poison is like liquid fire, it can be cured if the poisoned person spends time in a large amount of water." she explained.

"How can such a poison exist?" Ginny asked in confusion.

"Our worlds are different from each other and the monster's poison is by each race different." she replied.

_**If I died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?**_

The girls were now crying even harder.

_**"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."**_

"Is she taunting him?" Semaus asked.

"More like unwontedly helping in a way, Lavender told you that the Chimera poison can be cured by water and his being the son of the Sea God it would ensure that he gets safely into the water because it is his father' domain." Dean explained as more and more people were hoping that Percy would soon jump.

_**Yeah, right, I thought. I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple of stories**__**up was like jumping onto solid asphalt. From here, I'd splatter on impact.**_

"Only if you are not the child of a water god or nature spirit, they are protected by the water." Minerva said reassuringly which relaxes a few people, but others were still tense.

_**The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for an other blast.**_

_**"You have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."**_

Many glared either at the book and the thunder rumbled stronger again.

_**She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not even the gods.**_

"Please jump." Parvati pleaded with tear filled eyes.

_**I backed up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. He must have visited me when I was in my cradle.**_

"He did." the demigods said while Poppy gave Molly a pointed look.

_**I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed me as his son.**_

"It is one of the most wonderful feelings when you are claimed, suddenly all haze disappears and you know who you truly are and where you belong." Hannah said softly at which a good deal of muggleborns and half-bloods who grew up in the muggle world nodded in agreement even though the former group still felt conflicted about the knowledge asto how they got their magic.

_**But this wasn't the sea. This was the Mississippi, dead center of the USA. There was no Sea God here.**_

"He is still connected to them." Andromeda said.

_**"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face.**_

_**"Father, help me," I prayed.**_

The girls teared up again at that prayer.

_**I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted toward the river.**_

"Thi…this was the end." Narcissa said and handed the book to Sirius.

_To be continued…_


	14. Why do I get this chapter?

XIV. Why do I get this chapter?

Accepting the book from his cousin looked Sirius down at the title before looking over at the blonde, scowling.

"You gave me this chapter to read on purpose." he told her while she gave him an innocent smile.

"I did not know what would be the next chapter Sirius." she told him sweetly while Sirius huffed in annoyance, but started to read.

_**I Become a Know Fugitive**_

This of course set the demigods and a few of the wizards into laughing fits considering the irony of the title and the one reading the chapter though others were still slightly wary about the man seeing how they did not know about his innocence.

"Ha, ha, really funny I can't stop laughing at the hilarity of it." Sirius growled before continuing to get this chapter fast over with, really from all the chapters he gets the one with 'fugitive' in the title. Why could the title not have been 'I take a quick swim from poisoning' or something along those lines?

_**I'd love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, etcetera.**_

"According to my father has he no trouble laughing at my younger brother when he ends up as the victim of a prank intentionally or not." Severus said with a shake of his head, he was no fan of pranks, but the Mercury children knew where to draw the line thankfully. "Though he never did that with either my father, half-siblings or Thanatos though he had meet all of them." he added in mussing while some of the others paled.

"Uhm…nice…" Pomona said carefully, it was still hard to comprehend that the man sitting not far from her was so much in contact with death and not even because of his past as a Death Eater – now thinking about it, the name sounded just wrong if you knew that Death was a living being -, it was kind of frightening to her and she was sure that her feelings about the whole situation would be a jumbled mess for a while.

_**The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!**_

"An accurate way to sum it up." Bill said while by the Gryffindor table Harry nodded his head; this was kind of the same thing going through his head by some of his falling experiences just like by other Quidditch players.

_**The river raced toward me at the speed of a truck.**_

Those who knew what a truck was flinched at the comparison as they tried to not imagine the scene.

_**Wind ripped the breath from my lungs.**_

Now was everyone flinching, that did not sound like a good experience at all, though what were they expecting in light of the situation the boy was in?

_**Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision.**_

_**And then: Flaaa-boooom!**_

_**A whiteout of bubbles.**_

"Good, he is now in the water." Parvati said in a relieved tone, the poison would be now not a problem anymore and due to Percy's father he did not get hurt when falling into the water from that height.

_**I sank through the murk, sure that I was about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever. **_

_**But my impact with the water hadn't hurt.**_

_**I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A catfish the size of my stepfather**_

Here Sirius stopped reading and stared at the book with a raised eyebrow as he re-read the line in his head.

"That is one heck of a large one." he said after a while as some people nodded, some muggleborns who had relatives who liked fishing shook their heads vehemently at the idea of said relatives ever finding out about this.

"And now that we have established that fact you should continue Black." Severus told the other man in a dry tone before he flicked his finger and Lucius let out a frustrated growl as the skeleton re-took his place on his leg so he did not notice the annoying hand from before making itself ready for another attack.

"Fine." Sirius said while still unsure if he should find the situation Lucius was in funny or be horrified that Snape could so easily manipulate dead bodies and could any second send an army of those at him.

_**lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage—beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags—swirled up all around me.**_

There were many sounds of outrage, not only from the demigods, as Sirius read on while making a note that whenever he throws something out that he makes sure that it lands in the garbage bin or he lets them simply disappear with a spell, though the next lines made him chuckle.

"That guy certainly knows how to keep the humour up no matter his depressive side." he said while the demigods allowed themselves small smiles.

"Percy certainly does not allow one to lose their moral, he is a natural leader as you will hear some of his speeches, mostly in the Last Olympian, those were technically the ones which didn't let us despair in battle no matter the numbers of the enemy." Dean said and this was the truth, without Percy they would have either been in terror due to the difference in numbers or torn each other apart in search for the spy. He cringed as he remembered that Lavender will probably hear first hand about the last minutes of her sister's life, he knew that he will be too regards both Pan and Luke, but still Silena's sacrifice had hit her harder. He had never known Pan and he was not sure about his feelings for Luke, but Silena and Lavender had been close and she had seen her as both an older sister and a role-model.

"Uh…how much was the difference?" Hermione asked carefully, she had a bad feeling when the two demigods exchanged a pained glance.

"Can't say much seeing how you will read it, but put the situation in a way like on the night Sirius escaped." Lavender said with a forced smile as both Harry and Hermione paled having figured which part of the night was meant, the Dementors.

"Many things happened at that time." Ron who did not get it said before Harry leaned over and whispered into his ear. "Bloody hell." he exclaimed when Harry pulled away.

"Well, Hell is not exactly bloody, but you will need to talk with Snape if you want to fully know how it looks." Dean said with a shrug while the redhead shook his head in panic.

_**At that point, I realized a few things: first, I had not been flattened into a pancake.**_

"Well duh, Kelp Head we can't have the Hero of Olymphos look like a pancake, now can we." Pansy spoke up wile rolling her eyes, then she turned to Theo who was looking with amusement at her. "Your sister has quiet the taste in guys." she told him.

"Well, it is up to her whom she wants to date and don't forget that a good deal of people had and still have a crush on him, some of your sisters included." Theo replied back smirking while the brunette groaned.

"Don't remind me." she said before noticing the Draco still looked a bit pale, well more pale then usual. "Are you alright Draco?" she asked in a concerned tone which made the blonde snap out of it.

"I…it is just the thought that my father…he…" Draco was not sure how to phrase it, that guy Percy in the book gave an apt description how that monster looked and what it was like to be bitten by it and then his father's words…it made his stomach twist painfully and he felt like throwing up from the thought of his father having been in such a situation.

"It is alright, being a demigod or even a legacy of one is not easy and one should because of that cherish every second of life. Your father is still alive and this should be what counts." Theo told his friend while placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Theo is right Draco, your dad is fine even though he needed to face monsters who knows how often as he grew up." Blaize added in, he himself had never meet his biological father, though his mother had always told him that he had been a powerful person with strong ideals and wisdom, but he died in a terrible accident while at work. Strangely she never told him what his father's job had been only that one day there was a terrible accident, but he had heard his mother once on the anniversary of his father's death mumbling in her room that she was so glad that the bastard murdering her husband had finally received death. This had been at that time shocking to him, the thought that his father had actually been murdered by another person and that his murderer was dead. It had also left a bitter feeling in his stomach seeing that if not for that person his parents would still be together, she seemed to still love him, he had never dared to ask for the name of the murderer for his mother had not known that he had heard her.

_**I had not been barbecued. I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins anymore.**_

"That is a really interesting poison." Amelia mumbled to herself while trying to not imagine if Regulus had ever needed to face such a beast just like his older brother did. The later thought was still a bit strange seeing how she would never had imagined Reg and Lucius Malfoy to be half-brothers.

_**I was alive, which was good.**_

"Of course is it good." chorused the demigods and some of the population of Hogwarts.

_**Second realization: I wasn't wet.**_

"Wait what?" asked a shocked Hermione, how can one not be wet if they are under water? Harry meanwhile would have felt comfortable with that ability regards the second task last year, getting out of the water had been not the best experience.

"One of the perks to be the son of the Sea God." Dean said with a shrug.

"It is like how children of Lord Hephaestus can't be burned so easily." Lavender added in, she had seen Jake enough times pull out swords from the fire with his bare hand, he said that if they do it fast enough they don't even feel anything.

"That is…" Seamus was kind of lost for words as were the others the demigods were sounding with each chapter even more strange and in some ways scary.

_**I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire on my clothes had been quenched. But when I touched my own shirt, it felt perfectly dry.**_

Some people looked at the book with jealousy, mostly the Quidditch players who had played outside in the rain and needed to peel the wet clothes from them after the match was done.

_**I looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter.**_

_**No way, I thought.**_

_**I flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi.**_

The wizards stared with awe at the book, the ministry official the most, sure there were some spells regards putting fire into a small magical barrier so that it goes not out under water, but there was the problem with their own time limit, the bubblehead charm and gillyweed had their limits and human transfiguration if done well does not always leave you with hands. Unfortunately with the now gained knowledge that these are inherited powers they would have trouble asking how they had done it.

_**I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry.**_

_**I lit it with no problem. As soon as I let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag. Weird.**_

"Only because you never tired it before." Zacharias said with a small laugh from beside Hannah who was smiling in amusement.

"This is really cool." Justin told the duo.

"And you have not seen anything yet the fourth and fifth book will show even more." Zacharias told the other boy who was not sure if he would like to know what Percy does or not.

_**But the strangest thought occurred to me only last:**_

Here Sirius stopped again in his reading and let out a bark like laugh, to be honest he really appreciated this boy's humour, it made one forget the bad things and it had been long years ago since he had laughed so much. After managing to calm down he finally read the part which amused him to the curiously staring great hall.

_**I was breathing. I was underwater, and I was breathing normally.**_

"No Percy, you are only hallucinating that one." Lucius said sarcastically while still pulling at the skeletal hands wrapped around his leg when the hand finally decided to attack, covering his eyes and sending the aristocrat falling to the ground with a small yelp of surprise as the demigods broke out laughing together with some of the wizards on both Percy's and the blonde's comments.

"Mal…Lucius do you need er…some help?" asked a slightly nervous Ted Tonks after his wife gave his shoulder a small shove in the direction of his brother-in-law who was still on the ground and trying to pull the skeleton hand off of his hair, again.

"No need, I think I have got this in a few minutes ugh… is not the first time I got these on me." Lucius replied as he threw a small glare at Severus who was looking down at him with an amused expression.

"Uh…ok…" Ted replied as he tried to not show how relieved he was to not need to touch animated skeletons.

_**I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled.**_

"He is out of danger so of course his adrenalin level must be going back." Kingsley said, it would explain the trembling.

_**I should've been dead.**_

"Thank the Gods you are not." Dean mumbled, they would be screwed without their leader.

_**The fact that I wasn't seemed like ... well, a miracle.**_

"A continuous miracle." Minerva said while massaging her forehead, really that boy had technically found himself in almost every life and death situation their world could provide you with and lived.

_**I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother: Percy, what do you say?**_

_**"Um ... thanks." Underwater, I sounded like I did on recordings, like a much older kid. "Thank you ... Father."**_

"He has his manners in place." Pomona said when Rodolphus snorted.

"From what I have heard and some things in this book I would say only a few get the privilege to enjoy his manners." he replied smirking before looking down at Lucius. "You know that this would make some hilarious pictures?" he asked the blonde who finally managed to free his hair and threw the offensive hand immediately at the redhead. "Hey!" he growled while trying to get the hand out of his own hair while Lucius only gave him a triumphant smile before going again for the skeleton.

"It is king of disturbing to see them trying to free themselves from those skeletons." Rolanda whispered to a slightly pale Aurora Sinistra.

"Don't tell me, I'm just glad that Severus never used those regards us or the students, but now I know how he could make all those stunning Halloween decorations." she answered back to the other witch.

_**No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the color of butterscotch.**_

_**Why had Poseidon saved me?**_

"Because he is your dad, even if the laws don't allow them direct interfering there are loopholes they can use and try to help their children, but sadly it does not always go as everyone wishes." Luna said in a sad tone, Luke had sadly never seen what his father had done till the last seconds.

"The…", but Arthur covered Molly's mouth and shook his head in the negative.

_**The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. So I'd gotten lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance.**_

"Percy, looking at the amount of training or lack therof it is already an achievement that you could swing your sword at it and survived." Zacharias said much to the stunning of the hall, well it was still hard for them to grasp that the usually complaining and arrogantly acting guy had a caring side to him.

"Agreed, most would have frozen down in panic or not known what to do." Tonks spoke up from her sitting spot on the head table, she was sure that even her would have been to stunned to react in time, leave alone get out of the way of that blast.

_**Those poor people in the Arch were probably toast.**_

A good deal of people flinched at this.

_**I couldn't protect them.**_

Harry bowed his head, if he would have been much faster in his reactions then maybe he could have saved Cedric or at least let him escape with the cup and call for help.

_**I was no hero.**_

"Which is not true." the demigods said in stern voices, he was one of the greatest heroes to have ever existed.

_**Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders. Fump-fump-fump. A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around.**_

_**There, not five feet in front of me, was my sword, its gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud.**_

_**I heard that woman's voice again: Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in you. This time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar.**_

Everyone looked curious at this, mostly that Percy had compared the voice to that of his mother, but that was not possible that she was there.

_**"Where are you?" I called aloud.**_

_**Then, through the gloom, I saw her—a woman the color of the water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were green like mine.**_

_**A lump formed in my throat. I said, "Mom?"**_

At this turned everyone curiously to the demigods.

"The two of them look alike, but are not the same she is one of his father's subjects, I think there is a law that a god may send one messenger of his court during a quest in regards as help, but not more and they are not allowed to directly interfere." Hannah told the others.

"But what about the three on the bus?" asked Marietta in confusion, they were told that those three also serve as messengers.

"They were sent in as opponents and not to deliver a message at that time so it does not count and they were also not sent to help with the quest." Severus explained before snapping his fingers and letting the skeletal hand in Rodolphus's hair and the skeleton on Lucius's leg dissolve into shadows, he had decided to be merciful to his now glaring best friend and cousin.

_**No, child, only a messenger, though your mother's fate is not as hope less as you believe.**_

Those who had not figured out that she had only been taken and not killed stared questioningly at the book.

_**Go to the beach in Santa Monica.**_

_**"What?"**_

_**It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence.**_

The demigods were again mumbling in annoyance at this while Dudley made plans to ask what one must do to join Smelltings's 'Healthy Environment' club, after apologizing for being an idiot to them for the past four years that is. The club leader Heather was also actually a really pretty and strong willed girl who was not scarred standing up to him and his gang to defend her club members.

_**"But ..." I was sure this woman was my mother, or a vision of her, anyway. "Who—how did you—"**_

Lavender smiled at this, she always felt this gentle love towards his mother whenever she saw Percy, he was one of those people who did not lock away their feelings once they had admitted them towards a person, no matter what type they are or how easily one can get hurt due to that.

_**There was so much I wanted to ask, the words jammed up in my throat.**_

_'__**I cannot stay, brave one,' the woman said. She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress. 'You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts...'**_

At this looked again many confused while Ginny bit painfully at her bottom lip, she learned that lesson when she thought that the diary she found in her first year by her school books had been a gift.

"But gifts…"

"…are great." come it from the twins and some students nodded in agreement with their statement.

"Ah, really strange seeing that some magical abilities are also a gift and when in second year Potter showed the gift of Parselmouth was he technically shunned by the whole school minus Slytherin House and maybe a handful of students." Pansy spoke up testily while both Sirius and Remus look at a fidgeting Harry while most of the students bowed their heads in shame.

"Also it should be noted that the snake is a sacred animal to Lords Apollo, Hermes, Ares and Dionysus also Ladies Demeter and Hecate to name a few." Theo added in as an additional explaining and also to kind of show that the snake had an important role and it was not always evil, this reminded him. "Also on the Egyptian side there are also two serpent deities one of them Apophis the Snake of Chaos and the personification of pure evil while the snake goddess Wadjet who is a protector of kings she is also the goddess of childbirth and children on their side." he finished to the silent and wide eyed crowd. 'They will have enough time to mush about the whole thing after we are long gone, let's see if they realize their own hypocritical actions which drove Slytherins since long decades to the darkness.'

Sirius was also staring blankly like most in the hall before he was tapped on the shoulder by Andromeda who indicated for him to continue reading, which he did albeit reluctantly.

_**Her voice faded.**_

_**"Gifts?" I asked. "What gifts? Wait!"**_

_**She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone. Her image melted away. If it was my mother, I had lost her again.**_

The demigods felt glad that this was not the case anymore, they knew how bad Percy's disappearance had lasted on his mother, but things were fine now. The wizards on the other hand were still kind of not able to react which made them all resist the urge to roll their eyes at them.

_**I felt like drowning myself.**_

_**The only problem: I was immune to drowning.**_

"Yes, that would be a bit hard with being part Water God." Dean replied with a shrug before looking over at the wizards. "Will you eventually snap out of it, we are not reading these books out of fun on our side and you guys space out quiet often." he told them and this was the truth as fun it was to read Percy's thoughts, his descriptions could be frightening and most of the things in these books will only rip their wounds even more open then they still are.

_**Your father believes in you, she had said.**_

_**She'd also called me brave ... unless she was talking to the catfish.**_

The demigods shook their heads at this while the wizards started slowly returning to their senses.

_**I waded toward Riptide and grabbed it by the hilt. The Chimera might still be up there with its snaky, fat mother,**_

"Really, I did not insult others this much in my youth." Sirius mumbled to himself before continuing, that boy had really lucky stars or maybe some divinities guarding him.

_**waiting to finish me off. At the very least, the mortal police would be arriving, trying to figure out who had blown a hole in the Arch.**_

Charlie flinched as he remembered that the hole had been made by a single blast of fire, yes dragonfire was not that bad as chimera fire.

_**If they found me, they'd have some questions.**_

"Which would be not good." Remus said, mostly after how his stepfather indicated Percy to have something to do with the disappearance of his mother, which he kind of had, but not the way he implied it.

_**I capped my sword, stuck the ballpoint pen in my pocket. "Thank you, Father," I said again to the dark water.**_

_**Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface.**_

_**I came ashore next to a floating McDonald's.**_

"Hmm…didn't your brother say once that it seems that McDonalds's products are highly proficient in the case of someone summoning dead souls?" Minerva asked Severus suddenly at which the jaws of those who knew what that was let their jaws drop, some of them looking ready to never enter that place again while both Harry and Cho made plans to try it out the next summer, Mr. Diggory on the other hand decided to look up what that was and then get some of those products.

"Yes, he was also stunned by it, usually one used blood" here a good deal of people, mostly Harry due to an unpleasant reminder, flinched " as the sacrifice and Nico only used those products as an experiment seeing how he had no one whose blood he could use, he had been also stunned by this revelation." Severus answered while signalling to Black that he should continue and not gap like a fish out of water.

_**A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve.**_

Moody only shook his head at this, really if something large happens which requires the attention of the authorities then standing around watching could easily be dangerous for the onlookers or if a crime happened make it much easier for the culprit to get away.

_**A little girl said, "Mama! That boy walked out of the river."**_

_**"That's nice, dear," her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances.**_

_**"But he's dry!"**_

_**"That's nice, dear."**_

"Children can see through the mist because they are still open minded, as they grow most loose that ability though." Hannah explained.

"Also, most parents are pretty oblivious towards their children, they either have a perfect picture about them and turn def if one tells them otherwise or they kind of ignore their child's problems." Theo said which made Dudley squirm in his seat, he was sure that he was in the first category in the case of how his parents threat him while some seats farther away Percy Weasley looked down at the table not even noticing that his two older brothers were looking at him.

_**A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious.**_

Cue flinches, but then a muggleborns Hufflepuff spoke up as he remembered something.

"Why was this not in the news outside of America, they usually show big news all around the world." he said in confusion which was mirrored by the other muggleborns.

"Our dad worked a bit overtime that the news never leaves the States." Zacharias told his House mate with a shrug of his shoulder while Dean nodded in agreement with his brother.

_**We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."**_

_**Survivors. I felt a surge of relief. **_

Everyone else was feeling the same way, that thing didn't sound like something which would stop itself from attacking people who were defenceless against it, that would be like You-Know-Who handing out flowers to muggleborns and muggles.

_**Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely. I hoped Annabeth and Grover were okay.**__. _

"He is a really loyal and caring person." Charity told the two witches on her side.

_**I tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line.**_

_**"... an adolescent boy," **_

And everyone was back to groaning.

_**another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities …"**_

"They really can't get a break now can they?" Sirius asked while shaking his head, yes he hoped that Harry will never pull such stunts on him or he will ground the boy till he is fifty.

"At least there were no fatalities." Andromeda said, she seemed to be proven right her brother-in-law's world was both wondrous and dangerous, it certainly meant something that the man was still alive, that they all were.

_**I backed away, trying to keep my head down. I had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere.**_

_**I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated, "Perrr-cy!"**_

"Seems as if they had found him first." Tonks said with a relieved smile, now they needed to get out of there.

_**I turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug—or goat hug.**_

This made a few people beside the demigods snicker.

_**He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"**_

"Actually, that is the easier way." come it from Severus and Luna, neither of them understood why people thought that dying would be the hard way in the case of going to the Underworld, most of the others only looked at them uncomfortably.

_**Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me.**_

Lavender smiled, she would have not minded a hug, but knew that she would need to wait for that step to be made.

_**"We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"**_

"Ah, I remember some similar comments, Min also uses phrases like this when she wants to hide that she was worried." Lucius said grinning after he finally stopped glaring at Severus.

"It is not, you two only tend to overdo your sparring and then end up injured and one needs to point out your idiocy." Minerva snapped, but one could clearly see the blush coating her cheeks.

"Say what you want Minerva, we know you." Severus replied back amusedly, it was fun teasing his cousin well one could say niece, but they settled for the former to make it less awkward. Also the way everyone in the hall was starring at them started to become old, they should finally get over it, unlike his snakes, that he has also human feelings and is capable of being nice and having a humour.

_**"I sort of fell."**_

While most of the magical people stared with unbelieving eyes at the book were the demigods shaking their heads with fond smiles on their lips. Only Percy…

_**"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"**_

"And to think that he will be topping that height." Bill said with a shake of his head before throwing a new glance at their Percy, something just seemed not right with him since the whole parents things was mentioned and then his other thought some chapters ago that Percy was not used to praise by his siblings, he really needed to investigate this.

_**Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua—"**_

"Now I kind of wonder what the mortals saw in the Battle of Manhattan." Dean said blinking.

"Probably not much positive, it had been not easy protecting them while staying alive ourselves." Theo said as he shook his head while the others looked again either nervous or panicked.

_**"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."**_

"They never believe which is most of the time good for us." Zacharias said, but yes in some cases would it be better for the mortals to be less ignorant, this is how some of them end up on cave expeditions as monster food.

_**"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she saw me. "There he is! That's the boy!"**_

This made a good few people groan and some to even mutter curses under their breaths.

"Harry, that guy has officially a worse luck then you." Ron told his best friend.

_**I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd.**_

Moody nodded, this only proves his argument regards onlooking crowds on the place of a crime scene, the escaping culprit may not always be as innocent as this lad regards their deeds.

_**"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"**_

_**I told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message.**_

"That nearly gave her a heart attack." Theo said while mentally adding _'not even speaking about the guilt trip regards this incident.' _

_**"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."**_

The demigods nodded their heads.

_**Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracks when he said, "Percy Jackson.**_

Cue groans.

_**That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. And the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."**_

"As said, dad was pretty busy with having this one not leak out to other countries." Zacharias repeated, he could only imagine how hard this had been to solve unlike the whole thing with Typhoon.

_**We ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley.**_

_**"First things first," I told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"**_

_**Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station with out getting spotted. **_

_**We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us.**_

"This was the end of the chapter, your turn Moony." Sirius said to his friend while somewhat away from them the Weasley Twins perked up at the name, but were not sure if they had heard right.

_To be continued…_


End file.
